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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894878">Stars Above Atlantis</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimirce/pseuds/kimirce'>kimirce</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>crystals of the sea and stars [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Altean Lance (Voltron), Atlantean Lance, Gen, Team as Family, adding character tags as I go, minor original characters, really this is General Audiences, the Heart of Atlantis is a balmera crystal, the first Atlanteans were Altean refugees who settled on earth thousands of years ago, the teen rating is solely for the use of a couple swear words</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:35:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,529</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimirce/pseuds/kimirce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1914, Milo Thatch discovered Atlantis. Before he and Queen Kida were going to reveal Atlantis' existence to the world, WWI began, and it was decided that sharing Atlantis with the rest of the world was too dangerous.</p><p>Nearly two centuries later, Lance McClain is a mostly normal kid attending the Garrison. He wears his crystal under his shirt and hides the fact that he spends part of every summer staying with his family in Atlantis.</p><p>Things get a lot less normal when his dead hero crashes to Earth, and he and his fellow cadets are caught up in an intergalactic war. Lance begins to realize that the origins of Atlantis may be more distant than he'd ever known - that his people come not solely from Earth, but from beyond the stars.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>I haven't decided yet but one of those pairings will show up eventually, Keith &amp; Shiro (Voltron), potential Allura/Lance (Voltron), potential Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>crystals of the sea and stars [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722238</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>222</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23739649">Atlantis: The Lost Alteans</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cristynuca/pseuds/Cristynuca">Cristynuca</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I saw this art by Cristynuca, and two days later I had 16,000 words of fic and world-building. Full credit to her for this awesome idea. I'm having a lot of fun running with it!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Dialogue from the end of this chapter is lifted directly from Voltron 1x05, Tears of the Balmera.*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day Lance was supposed to get either his rejection or acceptance letter from the Galaxy Garrison, he couldn’t bring himself to check his email.</p><p>He went to school like he always did, and after, he and his friends went to the beach. The sun and the water distracted him pretty well for a while. At home, there wasn’t anything to distract him, not since Marco had taken to staying out at all hours – much to the consternation and anger of their Mamá – and Rachel had started shutting herself in her room to draw for hours on end. Papá was away working somewhere, Veronica was away at her new job with the WIA, while Luis and his wife Lisa were on vacation.</p><p>The house was too quiet, and it unsettled Lance more than he wanted to admit. He’d been home from Atlantis for the better part of a year, and it still felt inexplicably strange. It had only been one year away from home, but somehow, so much had changed. He touched the crystal he always wore under his shirt and sighed. He missed wearing it openly.</p><p>Lance walked in through the kitchen, all sweaty and with his hair still stiff from sea salt. His mamá was there, humming away over the stove. “Hola, Lancito,” she said. “How was your day?”</p><p>Lance mustered a smile, trying to ignore the niggling voice of fear and worry in the back of his head. “It was great, Mamá,” he began, and launched into a detailed recounting of the antics he and his friends had gotten up to that day.</p><p>“ – and then José tried to be all cool and wave at these girls on the beach, but he lost his balance and went down – it was a major wipeout, he took out Antonio too - and the girls were laughing at them and it was hilarious, Mamá, you almost had to have been there. Oh! And I got an A on that Pre-Calc test we had last week!”</p><p>Carmen stopped what she was doing to smile at her son. “Nicely done, mijo, I know you were worried about that. I’m not surprised, though.” She winked.</p><p>Lance smiled sheepishly, raising a hand to the back of his head. “Yeah…” he chuckled a bit. “I’m gonna go shower now bye!”</p><p>He ran up the stairs, leaving Carmen looking after him thoughtfully.</p><p>*</p><p>Later, Lance laid on his bed and stared up at his ceiling, covered as it was with all those glow-in-the dark constellations.</p><p>What if he didn’t get into the Garrison? What would he do? How would he tell Veronica – she was literally accepted to the WIA’s training academy when she was his age. She was the reason he had applied to the Garrison in the first place, helping him with his application and encouraging him every step of the way. And Thira – Thira had been listening to him talk for ages about how much he wanted to <em>fly</em> fly, up into space instead of just on a flier.</p><p>He’d told his friends at school that he was going to go the Galaxy Garrison next year, and that was why he’d spent last year homeschooling – a lie, to cover up for spending a year in Atlantis, but still, why had he said that? Why had he told anyone that before he even knew if he’d gotten in or not?</p><p>Lance sighed, rolled over, and smashed his face into a pillow.</p><p>There was a knock at the door to his room – well, his and Marco’s room. But Marco hardly seemed to be home when Lance was, these days.</p><p>“Lance?” his mother’s voice came. “Can I come in?”</p><p>He lifted his head enough to respond. “Sí, Mamá,” he called. His head thumped back to his pillow. “Sure, why not,” he said to it.</p><p>The door opened, and he heard her sigh. She came and sat on the bed.</p><p>“What is it, Lancito?”</p><p>Lance sat up. “It’s nothing, really, Mamá.”</p><p>Carmen looked at him shrewdly. “I noticed you haven’t mentioned whether or not you got into the Garrison,” she said. Lance sighed internally. She knew him too well.</p><p>“I can’t look,” he said.</p><p>His mother opened her arms. “Come here, mijo.” Obediently, Lance slid over and wrapped his arms around her waist. His mamá gave great hugs. She rested her head on his.</p><p>“You know it doesn’t matter to us if you get in or not, right?” Lance hummed his acquiescence. She pulled back a little. “Look at me.” He did.</p><p>“Even if you didn’t get in, you are not a failure, Lance. You will find something else, and we will love you anyway.” She held his gaze until he nodded.</p><p>“But,” she continued cheerfully, “They’d have to be idiots to reject you. So let’s look and find out together, okay?”</p><p>“Okay, Mamá.”</p><p>He grabbed his laptop and opened his email, and there, at the top, was a message from the Galaxy Garrison. His mother squeezed his shoulders encouragingly.</p><p>He tapped the message, and saw the words ‘we are pleased to inform you’ somewhere in the first line. He jumped up with a shout of joy.</p><p>“I got in! Mamá, I got in!”</p><p>Carmen smiled proudly. “I’m not surprised,” she reminded him, and he laughed.</p><p>*</p><p>A few months later, not long after his fourteenth birthday, Lance packed all his things and went with his family to the airport. He waved good-bye to his parents and his abuelita and all his siblings and his nephew Sylvio and his baby niece Nadia, and then he got on a plane and left Cuba.</p><p>The airport he landed at in America was large and busy, and he lingered by the gate, looking for the Garrison officer who was meant to pick him up. There was a crash behind him, and something knocked into his suitcase and nearly sent him sprawling.</p><p>“Sorry! Sorry!” The source of the crash was a large boy who looked about his age, and whose face was horrified as he apologized again, lifting his suitcase off the ground. Lance laughed, reminded suddenly of Thira, and held out his hand.</p><p>“No worries, buddy. Name’s Lance. What’s your name?”</p><p>The boy hesitated, then reached out his hand too. “Well – everyone calls me Hunk?”  </p><p>“Hunk, huh? Nice, dude! Bet the ladies love you,” Lance waggled his eyebrows.</p><p>Hunk huffed in surprised laughter. Lance smiled at him, noticing how he seemed a little less nervous.</p><p>“You waiting for someone?” Lance asked.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m supposed to get picked up, by someone, I guess. I’m going to this new school. I - I’ve actually never been to America before.”</p><p>“Really?” said Lance. “Me too! Wait, are you going to the Garrison too?”</p><p>“Too? You’re also going to the Garrison?” Hunk asked, astonished. “Man, what are the odds – I mean, I guess they’re not that low, ‘cause obviously we’d arrive at the same airport and today’s the day we’re supposed to get here, but there’s so many people here - ”</p><p>Lance laughed delightedly at Hunk’s rambling and put an arm around his shoulders. “Hunk, my buddy, my pal, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”</p><p>Hunk stopped a moment, and then smiled at Lance blindingly.</p><p>They talked until the Garrison officer finally found them, and later, they ended up in the same dorm.</p><p>That night, Lance smiled up at the ceiling. There weren’t any constellations on the ceiling here, but that was okay. He’d get to see the real ones soon.</p><p>*</p><p>On the first day of flight classes, the sixteen cadets who had been accepted as pilots were sorted into groups of eight for their first go in the simulators.</p><p>As the students milled around, waiting to start, Lance saw one of the other cadets was standing by himself, lips turned down as he stared at the wall. Everyone else seemed nervously excited, but not this kid with the weird mullet hair.</p><p>So, of course, Lance decided to introduce himself. “Hey!” he said brightly. “I’m Lance. Are you excited to try the simulators?”</p><p>Mullet kid looked at him. “Fuck off,” he said flatly, and returned to staring at the wall.</p><p>Lance stared, offended. What a jerk.</p><p>*</p><p>The mullet jerk’s name was Keith Kogane and during their first go on the simulators, he broke formation, knocked into Lance and jarred him hard, and then went off to fly like a crazy person and got all eight of them stuck running drills for the next three weekends.</p><p>He was also the favourite of Lance’s hero, Takashi Shirogane – <em>he told the cadets to call him Shiro</em> - and within their first month as cadets, Keith Kogane had earned the highest flight simulator scores of any first-year cadet <em>ever</em>, including Takashi Shirogane.</p><p>Lance <em>hated</em> Keith Kogane.</p><p>He quickly developed an obsession with beating him. Lance checked the class rankings every week, comparing himself and Keith, while Hunk looked on exasperatedly.</p><p>Lance was first in their year in history, eighth in physics, tenth in math, third in self-defense, fourth in astronomy, and ninth in flight classes. Keith outranked him as seventh in physics, eighth in math, first in self-defense, and always, <em>always,</em> first in their flight classes.</p><p>There were forty-eight cadets in their year and sixteen of them were pilots. Hunk kept pointing out that he wasn’t doing badly at all, but none of that<em> mattered</em> if he couldn’t beat Keith. Hunk had the top spot in physics and Lance didn’t begrudge him that at all, but Keith’s seventh place drove him nuts.</p><p>*</p><p>Mostly, though, Lance enjoyed his time at the Garrison. Hunk was one of the most amazing friends ever, and he was quickly rising up in Lance’s list of favourite people to the level of Thira, and Thira had been Lance’s best friend since he was six years old.</p><p>He worked hard in his classes and laughed with Hunk and obsessively tried to one-up Keith, and his crystal stayed hidden under his uniform, just like always. He missed his family, he missed Cuba, and he missed Thira and Atlantis, but it was bearable.</p><p>Lance liked the Garrison.</p><p>By the end of the year, he’d risen to the seventh spot in their flight class, and was holding onto it solidly. The pilot cadets would be sorted into fighter class and cargo class before they started their second year, and Lance was desperate to qualify for fighter pilot.</p><p>When the rankings and results went up in the last week of classes, Lance rushed to check them, with Hunk hot on his heels.</p><p>Hunk was top of the engineering class, and he would be an engineer for a fighter pilot.</p><p>And Lance…Lance was…</p><p>Hunk saw the look on his face and hugged him. “It’s alright,” he said.</p><p>It wasn’t alright, but at least Lance managed not to cry about it until they were back in their dorm.</p><p>*</p><p>Lance spent half his summer in Cuba, and the other half in Atlantis.</p><p>Thira was delighted to see him. She’d gotten her tattoos when they were thirteen, light blue marks on her face and shoulders that told a story about her life. Lance had left right after she’d gotten them, and he still wasn’t used to seeing them on her.</p><p>If he lived in Atlantis, he would have gotten his own tattoos back then as well, ones that told a different story. Looking at Thira, Lance felt a kind of longing pang for them. But Lance lived on the surface, so he couldn’t get Atlantean tattoos.</p><p>He told Thira everything about the Garrison and Hunk and <em>Keith</em>. She approved strongly of Hunk, hated the thought of how strict the teachers were, and laughed when he told her about his rivalry with Keith.</p><p>When Thira looked at the pictures of him in his Garrison uniform, she looked revolted. “They’re hideous,” she complained, “And they look so uncomfortable. I can’t believe they make you wear those!”</p><p>Lance laughed. “They’re not <em>that</em> bad. Besides,” he smirked, “I can make anything look good, don’t you think?”</p><p>Thira hummed. “Of <em>course</em>,” she agreed sarcastically, and then she shoved him in the side and sent him flying off the ten-foot drop they were sitting beside to land in the water.</p><p>He sputtered to the surface. “Thira!”</p><p>She peered down at him and laughed.</p><p>*</p><p>It was a good summer. Lance wore his crystal outside his clothes, and he put the things he had learned in the Garrison to proper use. He and Thira pulled off tricks in the fliers that made Thira’s father Milo yelp - and in turn, caused her mother, Queen Kida, to laugh long and hard.</p><p>He spent time with his amat and his abuelo and made face masks with his cousins. Thira roped him into pranking her older brother and spending a creepy night camped out in the lava tubes.</p><p>When he hugged his family and Thira goodbye to go home to Cuba before heading back to the Garrison, Lance felt a good deal lighter.</p><p>There was still a chance that he could be promoted to fighter class. He was going to do his best, and he was going to hang out with Hunk, and it was going to be a good year.</p><p>*</p><p>Halfway through the school year, the Kerberos mission launched. Lance watched awestruck as the rocket flew up into the sky. Takashi Shirogane – <em>Shiro</em> – was on that ship. Maybe one day, he’d be on one just like it.</p><p>He threw himself back into his coursework (into beating Keith) with new enthusiasm.</p><p>Two months later, tragedy struck. The Kerberos mission was declared lost, and the pilot and crew were assumed dead.</p><p>Classes at the Garrison were more subdued. Lance heard that a couple kids even dropped out – if <em>Takashi Shirogane</em> could die doing this, what chance did anyone else have?</p><p>Lance tried not to think about it, and just focused on his classes and spending time with Hunk. He was improving in most of his classes, but he still held only seventh place in flight class. Only the top six pilot cadets were in fighter class. He was so close.</p><p>A month before the end of the year, Keith Kogane snapped.</p><p>The rumors were wild, suggesting that he had done anything from stealing classified information, sabotaging the Kerberos mission, or even punching Iverson himself in the face. No one knew for sure, but everyone knew that Keith Kogane, the record-breaking pilot cadet, had been expelled.</p><p>The next time Lance checked the rankings, his heart soared.</p><p>“I made it, I’m a fighter pilot!” He exclaimed to Hunk. They were still in the hallway, but he did a little dance in celebration anyway.</p><p>“Hasta la later, Keith!” Lance rested an arm on Hunk’s shoulder. “And look, you’re my engineer.”</p><p>“Cool…” Hunk laughed nervously. “Uh, can I do that from the ground?”</p><p>Lance gave him an unimpressed look, and turned back to the board.</p><p>“And our communications officer is…” Who?</p><p>“Who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?”</p><p>“Right here,” said a voice behind them.</p><p>They turned. Pidge Gunderson was a short, pasty, skinny boy with wildly cropped brown hair. Lance grinned.</p><p>“Welcome to the team, Gunderson! I’m Lance, your fighter pilot.” Saying those words totally gave him a thrill.</p><p>“Hey, I’m Hunk,” Hunk chimed in.</p><p>“We got a lot of great times ahead,” Lance said, “So we should probably start bonding now. How do you feel about pizza? Maybe sneaking out to meet some cute girls…”</p><p>Gunderson wasn’t looking at him, but was instead peering behind him. Lance gave him a petulant glare for ignoring him.</p><p>Then, Gunderson lifted a hand in a timid salute. What –</p><p>“Wrong arm, cadet,” Iverson growled has we walked past. Hunk and Lance stiffened in surprise, and quickly snapped to.</p><p>When Iverson was out of earshot, Lance bent down toward Gunderson, who was <em>still ignoring him.</em></p><p>“Hello? Pizza? Girls? Astronauts?” he asked.</p><p>Gunderson wrinkled his brow and turned to walk away. “Sorry, I don’t have time to mess around with you guys. See you in the simulator.”</p><p>And he was gone.</p><p>Lance looked after him, frustrated. “What’s his problem?”</p><p>Whatever. Nothing was going to ruin this day. He walked off, with Hunk right behind him.</p><p>He was a <em>fighter pilot.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>While I am from a multilingual family, I do not speak Spanish, and I am not at all Latinx, so if anyone has any corrections or suggestions regarding my portrayal of Lance and his family, I’d love to hear them!</p><p>amat - the Atlantean word for grandmother.</p><p>While I haven't used many Atlantean words in this story yet, I will be using more. I also have a prequel story in this series - and a few more planned - that will use more Atlantean. I'll keep a quick list of definitions at the bottom of each chapter, but if you'd like to know more, I have a tumblr post <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/620023133342154752/atlantean-language-masterpost">here</a> explaining the etymology and construction for each word. </p><p>(In general, feel free to come say hi to me on <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a>! I'm kimirce there as well.)</p><p>This work is unbeta'd, and all mistakes are my own.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lance's team sucks in the simulator, so he tries to orchestrate a bonding night - only, something unexpected happens. Suddenly, his team is rogue and attempting a major rescue, right alongside someone Lance really kind of hoped he would never see again.<br/></p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Significant portions of the dialogue in this chapter are lifted directly from Voltron 1x01, The Rise of Voltron.*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pidge Gunderson was apparently some kind of prodigy genius, because it was his first year at the Garrison and he was assigned to a third-year flight team and taking all third or fourth-year classes. He knocked Hunk out of the top spot in the engineering courses within a month. He even temporarily beat out that blonde girl who had held first place in all the math courses for two years running.</p><p>It didn’t seem to bother Hunk, so Lance chose to be reluctantly impressed. Pidge was still stand-offish and weird, but he wasn’t a bad guy.</p><p>On paper, they should have been a good team. Pidge and Hunk combined had some of the highest scores in physics and engineering, and Lance – well, Lance was still the lowest-ranked fighter pilot, but he was usually in the top three scorers for their strategy and tactics classes.</p><p>Unfortunately, their scores didn’t account for Pidge’s refusal to communicate or follow rules in the simulator, or Hunk’s nervous stomach. Lance was decisive in the cockpit, but also kind of reckless – and it certainly didn’t do him any favors that he’d entered the fighter class late. In short order, they had the most failed simulations of any fighter team.</p><p>After their third failed simulation in two weeks, they lined up outside the simulator for another session of getting yelled at by Iverson.</p><p>Lance stared at the ground while Iverson asked the rest of the class to point out the mistakes their team had made.</p><p>“The engineer puked in the main gearbox!” Someone called.</p><p>“Yes,” Iverson said. “As everyone knows, vomit is <em>not</em> an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”</p><p>“The comm spec removed his safety harness,” someone else said.</p><p>“The pilot crashed!”</p><p>Lance held back a wince.</p><p>Flying the damn simulator was nothing like flying an Atlantean flier. It wasn’t nearly as responsive, and he kept screwing up because he kept expecting it to fly right with a single touch, kept trying to fly it like he was flying with Thira, bragging and jokes included.</p><p>He wasn’t bad at it – but he wasn’t Keith Kogane. Lance didn’t even want to think about his former rival, but the instructors kept reminding him –</p><p>“And worst of all,” Iverson finished, turning back to the cowed cadets, “the whole jump they’re arguing with each other! Heck, if you’re going to be this bad individually, you’d better at least be able to work as a team!”</p><p>“Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into - ”</p><p><em>The next generation of elite astroexplorers, </em>Lance nodded along in his head. He’d certainly heard this speech enough times. Iverson didn’t exactly have new material.</p><p>“ – but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos mission!”</p><p><em>Uh-oh,</em> Lance thought, side-eyeing Pidge. Predictably, Pidge lost it.</p><p>“That’s not true, sir,” he burst out, fists clenched at his sides.</p><p>“What did you say?” Iverson thundered.</p><p>Lance had to act. He grabbed Pidge and clapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry sir, I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair,” Lance improvised. “But point taken.”</p><p>Iverson stepped forward, glaring at him.</p><p>“I hope I don’t need to remind you that the only reason you’re here is because the best pilot in your class had a <em>discipline</em> issue and flunked out.”</p><p>There it was. Keith Kogane, still following him around.</p><p>“<em>Don’t</em> follow in his footsteps.” Iverson held Lance’s gaze a moment longer, then stepped back.</p><p>“Next!” He barked.</p><p>*</p><p>That evening, Lance prodded Hunk into getting dressed and dragged him out of their room just before lights out.</p><p>“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Hunk fretted as they peered around a corner.</p><p>Lance rolled his eyes – it wasn’t exactly the first time he’d snuck out of the Garrison to have some fun.</p><p>“You heard Commander Iverson – we need to bond as a <em>team,”</em> Lance insisted. “We’re gonna grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls - ”</p><p>The lights shut off, leaving the hallways dark and empty.</p><p>“I’m just saying, right here, right now, on the record. This is a bad idea,” Hunk hissed.</p><p>Lance made a sound of exasperation and leapt up, darting across the corridor. Hunk followed behind him as they snuck toward the teacher’s lounge.</p><p>“You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure,” Lance muttered, kneeling down. He peered carefully through the window into the lounge, checking to make sure no one was about to leave through the door and catch them.</p><p>“All of your little <em>adventures</em> end up with me in the principal’s office,” Hunk protested.</p><p>It was all clear. Lance beckoned Hunk along and started crawling. “Oh, man,” came the whisper from behind him, but Hunk followed him anyway.</p><p>They crept through the darkened corridors. When Lance heard footsteps approaching, he shoved Hunk down to hide behind some trashcans. Hunk was all tense and stiff.</p><p>“Don’t panic, man, it’s all good.” Lance told him.</p><p>Sure enough, the guard walked by without noticing them at all, speaking into his comms as he passed. “L-5 north all clear.”</p><p>Pidge’s room was just across the hall, but just as they approached it, the door slid open, and Pidge slipped out, wearing a large backpack, and sprinted away.</p><p>Lance felt his mood darken to something a bit more serious as he watched Pidge disappear around the corner. “Where is he going?"</p><p>Lance knocked Hunk’s arm. “Come on.”</p><p>*</p><p>As it turned out, Pidge was going to the roof. Lance held Hunk back for a few minutes to see what Pidge would do up here, but all he did was set up a bunch of strange equipment and sit by the edge of the roof.</p><p>Finally, Lance figured there was no more point just watching. He sauntered up behind Pidge while Hunk crawled after him.</p><p>Pidge was wearing these giant retro-style headphones. Lance lifted one and spoke into his ear. “You come up here to rock out?”</p><p>Pidge nearly jumped out of his skin.</p><p>“Oh. Lance, Hunk. No, uh – um, just, looking at the stars,” he said.</p><p>Lance raised his eyebrows, peering at all the equipment. “Where’d you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.”</p><p>Pidge gave him a smug look from underneath his glasses. “I built it,” he said proudly.</p><p>Hunk came up on his other side, reaching for some of the equipment. “You built all this?”</p><p>Pidge smacked his hand away. “Ah! Stop it!” He looked back at Lance. “With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”</p><p>Lance connected some dots. “That right?” He took an insinuating tone. “All the way to Kerberos?”</p><p>Pidge stiffened like he’d been stuck with a needle and then looked away. Lance was obviously on the right track. “You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up! What’s your deal?”</p><p>Hunk adjusted one of Pidge's little satellite dishes and Pidge focused on that, taking the opportunity to ignore Lance.</p><p>“Second warning, Hunk!”</p><p>He was obviously hiding something. Lance continued. “Look, Pidge, if we’re gonna bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.”</p><p>Lance realized that this was something of a hypocritical declaration, given his own secrets, but his secrets were of the sacred family secret kind – and besides, his secrets weren’t making him act weird and interfering with their teamwork.</p><p>“Fine,” Pidge relented. “The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake - ”</p><p>He interrupted himself to yell at Hunk. “Stop touching my equipment!” Hunk jumped back.</p><p>Pidge settled himself and continued. “So I’ve been scanning the system,” he paused, “and picking up alien radio chatter.” He kept looking at them seriously, as if he hadn’t said something completely ludicrous.</p><p>Hunk sat bolt upright. “Whoa, what? Aliens?”</p><p>Lance shrugged. “Okay, so you’re insane. Got it.” He knelt beside Hunk and Pidge.</p><p>“I’m <em>serious,”</em> Pidge insisted. “They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron’, and tonight, it’s going crazier than I have <em>ever</em> heard it.”</p><p>“How crazy?” Lance asked.</p><p>An alarm rang out, and they all started as an announcement came over the PA system.</p><p>“Attention, students,” Iverson’s voice said, “We are on lockdown. Security situation Zulu Niner! Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”</p><p>“What’s going on?” Hunk asked. “Is that – a meteor?” He pointed, and Lance and Pidge followed his gaze. “A very, very big, meteor?”</p><p>Pidge grabbed a pair of binoculars. “It’s a ship!”</p><p>Lance snatched them to look for himself. “Holy crow! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That’s <em>not </em>one of ours.”</p><p>“No,” Pidge agreed. “It’s one of theirs.”</p><p>“So wait, there really are aliens out there?” Hunk’s voice was mildly panicked.</p><p>The ship got closer, closer – shot past them and crashed out in the desert in a flash of bright light.</p><p>Garrison vehicles tore out into the desert, headed straight for the crash site.</p><p>Pidge packed up his things and turned to Lance. “We’ve got to see that ship!”</p><p>He ran off, and Lance was hot on his heels. “Hunk, come on,” he said. Hunk looked reluctant, but he followed with barely any hesitation.</p><p>*</p><p>By the time they got out to the crash site, it was crawling with Garrison personnel. Luckily, there were a lot of rocks and random outcroppings in the desert, so it didn’t take long for Lance to find somewhere they could observe without being seen.</p><p>Pidge moaned a bit as he dragged him up, staring at something on his computer, and Hunk complained about the climb, but once they got up there, Pidge situated himself happily enough with all his gear, so Lance counted it as a win.</p><p>Hunk squirmed nervously beside Lance as he surveyed the site with Pidge’s binoculars. The Garrison had set up tents and lights and guards, making a makeshift stronghold in no time at all.</p><p>“Whoa, what the heck is that thing?” Lance breathed, staring through the binoculars at the dark gray and purple pod-shaped thing – presumably the alien ship.</p><p>He scanned over the rest of the area, a grin curving his lips as he focused in on one particular spot. “And who the heck is she?”</p><p>“Lance!” Pidge snapped, and smacked him in the side.</p><p>“Ow!” Lance yelped, because he could be petty when he wanted. He smirked at Pidge and refocused.</p><p>“Right, alien ship. Man, we’ll never get past all those guards to get a look,” he said, brow furrowed in disappointment as he tried to figure out how to get them closer.</p><p>Hunk started to say something about going back to their dorms, but Lance wasn’t listening. There was no cover right near the crash site, and too many people. No way they’d get anywhere near it without being spotted.</p><p>“Wait,” Pidge said, and Lance turned to look at him. “They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!”</p><p>Lance leaned in closer to see, absentmindedly wondering just when Pidge learned how to hack like this.</p><p>He was not at all prepared for what he saw on the screen.</p><p>A litany of choice words ran through his mind at the sight of the <em>dead</em> hero pilot Takashi Shirogane strapped down on a table and surrounded by Garrison personnel in hazmat suits – he began somewhere around <em>holy hell</em> and made it through <em>mierda</em> and <em>Dios mio y ano Yobmok</em> before he was distracted by the audio Pidge managed to get.</p><p><em>“Hey! What are you doing?”</em> Shiro struggled, looking panicked.</p><p><em>“Calm down, Shiro,”</em> one of the techs said, <em>“We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests - ”</em></p><p>Shiro interrupted. <em>“You have to listen to me – they destroy worlds – agh!”</em> He cut himself off with a grunt as he tried to wrench himself free. <em>“Aliens are coming!”</em></p><p>Lance watched wide-eyed. “That’s Shiro,” he hissed to Pidge and Hunk. “The pilot of the Kerberos mission. That guy’s my hero!”</p><p>“Guess he’s not dead in space after all,” Hunk commented.</p><p>“Where’s the rest of the crew?” Pidge wondered.</p><p>The feed rolled on. <em>“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?”</em> One of the masked techs asked.</p><p>Shiro’s gaze darted around. <em>“I don’t know – months? Years? Look, there’s no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably on their way. They’ll destroy us. We have to find Voltron.”</em> His voice was desperate.</p><p>Lance’s gaze snapped to meet Hunk’s, and then as one they looked at Pidge.</p><p>“Voltron!” Pidge exclaimed.</p><p><em>“Sir, take a look at this,”</em> one of the techs said. The cadets looked back to the screen. <em>“It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”</em></p><p>“Put him under until we know what that thing can do,” the officer in charge commanded.</p><p>Shiro started struggling anew. <em>“No! No, don’t put me under, no, there’s</em> <em>no time!”</em></p><p>“They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew,” Pidge mumbled.</p><p>Lance was focused on the screen still. “What are they <em>doing?</em>  Guy’s a legend, and they’re not even gonna listen to him?”</p><p>“We have to get him out,” Pidge asserted, and Lance nodded in agreement, already trying to figure out how they could do that.</p><p>Hunk interrupted, gesturing widely. “Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren’t we just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?”</p><p>Lance crossed his arms. “That was before we were properly motivated,” he informed Hunk. “We just gotta think. Could we tunnel in?”</p><p>Pidge perked up. “Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” he said.</p><p>“O-or, we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary – little late night snack.”</p><p>Pidge and Lance both gave Hunk flat looks.</p><p>“No,” Lance said, working it out, “what we need is a distraction.”</p><p>No sooner had he said that did a series of booms go off in the distance. Hunk shouted in alarm, and they all turned to see several explosions out in the desert, beyond the Garrison’s encampment.</p><p>“Is that the aliens? Is that – are they – is that the aliens? Are they here?” Hunk babbled. “They got here so quick!”</p><p>“No,” Pidge said. “Those explosions were a distraction – for him!” He pointed at a small vehicle approaching the site from the far side. “The Garrison’s headed toward the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side!”</p><p>Lance raised the binoculars to look, and immediately felt a shock of recognition. “No way,” he said, and a flush of pure irritation joined his shock. “Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!”</p><p>Without another second’s hesitation, Lance ran forward to charge down the hill.</p><p>“Who is it?” Hunk called after him.</p><p><em>“Keith!”</em> Lance shouted behind him, and there was endless frustration contained in that one syllable.</p><p>“Who?” asked Pidge.</p><p>“Are you sure?” asked Hunk. He ran after Lance.</p><p>“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere,” Lance asserted.</p><p><em>“Who’s Keith?”</em> Pidge shouted, following them.</p><p>They made their way down the steep hill, sliding and jumping.</p><p>The guards were all gone, so they ran straight into the makeshift facility. Just as they got inside, Lance saw Keith lifting Shiro off the table he had been strapped down on. How did he always manage to get ahead of Lance?</p><p>"Nope. No you—No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro."</p><p>Keith stared at him as Lance bent to lift Shiro’s other arm over his shoulder. "Who are you?"</p><p>"Who am I? Uh, the name's <em>Lance?"</em></p><p>Keith looked at him blankly. Lance <em>really</em> hated Keith Kogane.</p><p>"... We were at the same class at the Garrison?"</p><p>"Really? Are you an engineer?" Keith asked, blinking at him.</p><p>"No, I'm a pilot. We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck." Lance could hear his voice tipping into the upper registers in his irritation.</p><p>"Oh wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."</p><p>Lance simmered with resentment. "Well, not anymore,” he informed Keith. “I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out."</p><p>"Well, congratulations." Keith said sarcastically.</p><p>Lance glared at him, but didn’t say anything as they got Shiro to the door, where Hunk and Pidge were waiting.</p><p>His crystal abruptly came to life against his chest as the five of them drew close to each other. Lance stumbled for a moment, overwhelmed by the crystal’s multi-toned chiming. It felt like – <em>connection.</em> Like <em>celebration.</em></p><p>He had never felt anything like it, not in Atlantis or anywhere else.</p><p>Pidge darted ahead to check the entrance, and the sensation faded to a quiet hum, leaving Lance gasping.</p><p>
  <em>What the hell?</em>
</p><p>“You okay, man?” Hunk asked.</p><p>“I’m fine,” Lance managed, regaining his footing. He saw Keith roll his eyes on the edges of his vision, but chose to ignore it.</p><p>“Come on,” Keith said, and the two of them pushed on, dragging Shiro out of the tent and back towards Keith’s speeder. Pidge and Hunk hung back, keeping watch. Lance and Keith had almost reached the speeder when Pidge and Hunk caught up.</p><p>“Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” Hunk asked.</p><p>Keith handed Shiro entirely over to Lance so he could jump in the pilot’s seat as Pidge and Hunk scrambled on. Lance shoved Shiro up, and Pidge grabbed him and tugged. Together they managed to get Shiro situated.</p><p>With their combined weight, the speeder overbalanced and tilted. “Is this thing gonna be big enough for all of us?” Pidge asked.</p><p>“No,” Keith answered.</p><p>Lights flared up as Garrison desert rovers approached them.</p><p>Keith gunned the speeder’s engine. It lifted off the ground and wheeled around sharply, then took off fast into the desert.</p><p>Shiro was still passed out, so Lance steadied him, pressing him into Pidge’s grasp in the center of the speeder and ignoring his complaint. There wasn’t any more space inside or on top of the speeder. Lance braced himself so he could hang on to the side and look behind them – the desert rovers were gaining.</p><p>“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Lance asked Keith.</p><p>“We could toss out some non-essential weight,” Keith offered.</p><p>“Oh - right!” Lance said, and glanced around, searching the speeder for anything he could get rid of.</p><p>…There wasn’t anything in the speeder but the five of them.</p><p>“Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”</p><p>Keith ignored him and addressed Hunk. “Big man, lean left!”</p><p>Hunk did, and the speeder banked sharply. The rovers tried to follow, but they couldn’t turn as well as the speeder. Hunk glanced behind them. “Oh, man, Professor Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery – no, no, he’s fine.”</p><p>Keith took the speeder up a steep hill. “Big man, lean right!” he ordered again. Hunk leaned, and then they all screamed as Keith used the momentum to jump them across a gorge. The speeder careened down a narrow pathway carved into the side of the cliff.</p><p>Shiro nearly went straight out of the seat, and nearly took Pidge with him. Lance grabbed them both as they tried to survive Keith’s insane flying. He glanced behind them again. Two Garrison rovers had made it across.</p><p>“Guys,” Hunk squeaked, and Lance’s head snapped up. That was Hunk’s panic voice. “Is that a cliff up ahead?”</p><p>Lance and Pidge looked. That was definitely a cliff.</p><p>“Oh no, no-no-no-no-no - ” Lance panicked too, and heard Pidge and Hunk doing much the same. Keith ignored their shouts.</p><p>“Yup,” he said, and gunned the power. The speeder flew out into open air, and Keith cut the engine.</p><p>Lance screamed.</p><p>“What are you doing!” he shouted at Keith. “You’re gonna kill us all!” The wind rushing past made it hard to hang on. He clung to the speeder’s wing and thought longingly of an Atlantean flier – which, unlike a speeder, could fly at heights greater than like <em>five feet off the ground. </em>This was not five feet off the ground.</p><p>“Shut up and trust me!” Keith shouted back.</p><p>Seconds before they would be smashed into tiny pieces on the ground, Keith re-engaged the engines and the speeder whined, pulling up from the drop and continuing out into the desert.</p><p>Lance looked behind them and up. The Garrison rovers had halted at the edge of the cliff. He looked back at Keith, seeing only his stupid mullet-hair being blown behind him.</p><p><em>How the hell did he do that?  </em>Lance thought, awed for a moment before the jealousy hit and left him bitter. Keith Kogane was the best, after all. And Lance was just his replacement.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ano Yobmok - Great Crystal above. Basically an Atlantean curse or exclamation.</p><p>(I'm on <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> as kimirce if you want to come say hi!)</p><p>This work is unbeta'd, and all mistakes are my own.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Enter the Blue Lion.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, so somehow this chapter and the previous chapter ended up being almost entirely made up of Voltron's pilot episode, just rewritten from Lance's pov. I am doing a rewrite of canon, and there will be some canon divergence in a bit, but right now all the things that are different from canon are mostly just happening in Lance's head.</p><p>*Some of the dialogue in this chapter is original. Anything you recognize is from Voltron 1X01, The Rise of Voltron.*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was still dark out when they reached their destination. Keith had brought them to a tiny shack in the middle of nowhere.</p><p>“Where the heck are we?” Lance asked him as the speeder drew to a stop. Keith glared at him and didn’t answer.</p><p>“We did help you, you know,” Lance said, annoyed.</p><p>“Really,” Keith drawled. “Wonder how I managed to miss how <em>helpful</em> you were.”</p><p>Hunk shushed them. “Not now, guys. Pidge is asleep.”</p><p>Keith and Lance looked back. Pidge had indeed fallen asleep, and he was curled into the still unconscious Shiro.</p><p>Hunk gently lifted him out of the speeder, and whistled softly. “Wow, this little dude is way too light. Needs to eat more.” He looked at Keith. “Is there somewhere I can put him?”</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Keith said. He jerked his thumb toward the shack. “There’s a chair in there and some blankets, if you can fit him on that. I’ll put Shiro on the couch.”</p><p>“Gotcha,” Hunk said, and carried Pidge inside.</p><p>Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith. Was he <em>living</em> out here? All alone?</p><p>Keith reached for Shiro, and tried to pull him out of the speeder, but Shiro was not a small man and it was awkward. Lance stepped closer to help, and Keith glared at him. “Come on, man,” Lance said with a glare of his own. “Just let me help.”</p><p>Keith relented, and together they got Shiro into the shack and situated on the couch. The three of them watched them for a few minutes – Shiro breathing deeply and evenly on the couch, and Pidge curled up in the corner chair.</p><p>“You guys should get some sleep,” Keith said finally.</p><p>“Yeah,” Lance agreed, but didn’t move.</p><p>Hunk cleared his throat, and waved at Keith. “I’m Hunk, by the way. So you can call me something other than, uh, ‘big man’,” he chuckled nervously.</p><p>Keith blinked at him. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed. “I’m Keith.”</p><p>Hunk and Lance exchanged a glance. “We were in class with you for two years, dude,” Lance said finally. “We know who you are.”</p><p>Hunk snorted. “That’s an understatement,” he muttered under his breath. Lance threw a glare at him, but at least he’d spoken quietly enough that Keith probably didn’t hear.</p><p>“Oh,” Keith nodded, still regarding them with bemusement. “What about him?” he gestured at Pidge. “He looks kind of familiar.”</p><p>Lance gaped at him. Was this guy serious? “No,” he said, drawing the word out incredulously. “He didn’t join the Garrison until after you left.”</p><p>“Oh,” Keith said again, looking kind of disconcerted.</p><p>“Anyway, all I’ve got are a few more blankets,” Keith waved his hand toward a messy pile in the corner, “but feel free to grab those.”</p><p>“What about you?” Lance asked, bending down to pick one up.</p><p>Keith’s eyes were fixed on Shiro’s face. “I’m not tired,” he said. “I’ll keep watch, in case he wakes up or the Garrison finds us or something.”</p><p>Lance furrowed his brow, and then shrugged. “Okay, whatever.”</p><p>He grabbed two blankets, and rolled one up to put under his head, then laid down on the floor. He felt kind of disgusting going to sleep without brushing his teeth or cleaning his face or anything, but it couldn’t be helped. He was pretty tired.</p><p>His crystal was still humming gently, just over his heart, and he placed one hand over it as he closed his eyes.</p><p>*</p><p>A few hours later, Lance woke up, stiff from sleeping on the floor. There was a bit of pale light coming through the windows, so it wasn’t quite nighttime anymore. Pidge was still asleep, and Hunk was sitting by the wall, reading something. Shiro still breathed deeply and evenly on the couch, eyes still closed, and Keith had fallen asleep by the couch, with his head on Shiro’s shoulder.</p><p>Lance raised his eyebrows. So much for keeping watch. He stood up and stretched, and went to sit by Hunk. His foot brushed against one of the papers on the floor as he walked past. It was quiet - barely a noise at all, but Keith startled awake and leapt to his feet, a knife in his hand.</p><p>Lance barely managed to stifle a loud swear at the surprise. He held his hands up. “Didn’t mean to wake you, man,” he whispered.</p><p>Keith lowered his knife. “Oh. It’s you.”</p><p>No apology was forthcoming for waving a knife in Lance’s face. Why was Lance even surprised?</p><p>A quiet groan came from behind Keith, and he whipped around.</p><p>Shiro was beginning to stir. Lance looked at him, then glanced at Keith. He was focused entirely on Shiro, and the look in his eyes was raw.</p><p>Lance closed his eyes in resignation, remembering the Garrison. Keith was the only cadet that Takashi Shirogane had ever taken an interest in. He got up and beckoned to Hunk. “Let’s give them a minute,” he muttered, and walked out of the shack. Hunk nodded and followed him.</p><p>They stood together outside. There was nothing but bare stone and rock in nearly every direction. The sky was still darkened, washing everything out in the gray light that came before sunrise.</p><p>“Been a crazy night, huh?” Hunk asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Lance murmured, resisting the urge to fiddle with his crystal under his shirt. He remembered that strange, multi-toned sensation that had run through him just hours before. And now, even, he sensed – something. Like a whispered song against his skin. What was out here?</p><p>“All this alien stuff,” Hunk said quietly, “You think it’s real?”</p><p>Lance was quiet for a long moment. There was that ship, and Shiro’s arm – and the fact that he was somehow alive. And – well. The old stories in Atlantis suggested that the Great Crystal had come from the sky. What if it had? Milo had theorized it was some kind of meteor, since it was so unlike anything else on Earth, but what if there was more to it than that?</p><p>“I don’t know, buddy,” Lance answered finally, “but I guess we’ll find out.”</p><p>Hunk hummed in agreement. “I guess we’re getting kicked out of the Garrison,” he said glumly. Lance felt a pang for the both of them. They had both worked so hard to be where they were in the Garrison.</p><p>“Maybe,” he said. He wrapped an arm around Hunk’s shoulder. “But I think we did the right thing, helping Shiro. And if we did the right thing, everything will work itself out, right?”</p><p>Hunk sighed. “I hope so,” he said.</p><p>They didn’t speak again as they watched the sky grow lighter.</p><p>A few minutes later, Shiro came out of the shack and walked past them, stopping a little ways out to watch the eastern sky. Keith followed him out, then hung back and waited on the porch.</p><p>Lance bumped Hunk’s shoulder, and they turned to go back inside.</p><p>“Is Pidge still asleep?” Lance asked Keith quietly.</p><p>“Yeah,” Keith answered, eyes still on Shiro.</p><p>Lance nodded. “We’re gonna wake him up. Come back in when you’re ready, I guess.”</p><p>Keith dipped his head in acknowledgement, and Hunk and Lance went inside.</p><p>By unspoken agreement, Hunk went to wake Pidge up, while Lance started folding the blankets. He could just imagine the look on his mamá’s face if she found out that he made a mess while he was a guest in someone else’s home, and then failed to clean it up.</p><p>*</p><p>When Keith and Shiro came back, Pidge was up, and everything was more or less presentable.</p><p>Without ceremony, Keith walked up to one of the walls, and yanked down a sheet. They all gaped. It was some kind of – conspiracy board.</p><p>“What have you been working on?” Shiro asked, startled.</p><p>“I can’t explain it, really,” Keith said. “After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda…lost. Found myself drawn out to this place. It’s like something…some energy, was telling me to search.”</p><p>Lance’s eyes widened, feeling how his crystal was still quietly whispering against his skin. He’d never felt it reacting like this away from Atlantis. Yeah, he’d bet something was out here, for sure. But how had Keith sensed it? He definitely wasn’t Atlantean – Lance was the only Atlantean at the Garrison – so he couldn’t have a crystal. Something very, very strange was happening.</p><p>He tuned back into what Keith was saying in time to hear “…until I stumbled across <em>this</em> area.” Keith gestured to the map, indicating a circled area that was marked ‘ENERGY SOURCE!’.</p><p>“It’s an outcropping of giant boulders, with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event – some arrival happening last night.” He looked at Shiro. “Then you showed up.”</p><p>Shiro’s brow creased. He looked away from Keith, and they both looked at the other three cadets in the room.</p><p>“I should – thank you all for getting me out,” Shiro said. He walked forward and held out his hand. “Lance, right?”</p><p>Lance stared up at him, and then down at the hand. Takashi Shirogane <em>knew his name?</em>  He <em>remembered</em> Lance?</p><p>Lance’s hand trembled as he went to take Shiro’s. He shook Shiro’s hand, meeting his eyes and smiling tremulously.</p><p>Shiro smiled back, small but genuine, and Lance felt himself relax infinitesimally.</p><p>Shiro turned to Hunk and Pidge, holding his hand out to them. Hunk didn’t react for a moment, so Pidge introduced both of them.</p><p>“The nervous guy’s Hunk,” he said, taking Shiro’s hand. “I’m Pidge. So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?”</p><p>A frown made its way back on to Shiro’s face. “I’m not sure. I remember the mission, being captured. After that, it’s just bits and pieces.” His voice went quiet.</p><p>Hunk found his voice. “Yeah-up, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens? Where are they now? Are they coming – are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?”</p><p>Shiro shook his head as though trying to clear it and looked down. “I can’t really put it together…I remember the word ‘Voltron’. It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but – I don’t know why.”</p><p>He looked up. “Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”</p><p>There was quiet for a moment. Then Hunk bent and stuck his hand into Pidge’s backpack. “Well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and I found this picture.” He showed to everyone. “Look, it’s his girlfriend,” he chuckled.</p><p>Pidge snatched it away before anyone got a good look. “Hey, give me that!” He grabbed his backpack back as well. “What were you doing in my stuff?”</p><p>“I – well I was looking for a candy bar,” he pulled something out of his pocket. “But then, I started reading his diary - ”</p><p>“What!” Pidge yelped, and snatched the book away too.</p><p>“ – and I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are looking for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line,”</p><p>Keith interrupted. “Frown – who?”</p><p>“It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only this element doesn’t exist on Earth - I thought it might be this Voltron? And I think I can build a machine to look for it, kind of like a Voltron Geiger counter.”</p><p>Lance smiled, feeling proud of his friend. He’d totally dragged Hunk into this mess, but they were all lucky Hunk was there. “Hunk, you big gassy genius,” Lance crowed.</p><p>Hunk looked a bit embarrassed. “It’s pretty fascinating, really,” He unfolded a piece of paper to show them. “The – the wavelength looks like this.”</p><p>“Give me that,” Keith grabbed the paper, and held it up to his board of crazy. The graph on the paper matched a picture of an outcropping of rocks.</p><p>The five people in the room stared.</p><p>*</p><p>It took Hunk and Pidge a while to build the Geiger counter thing, but then they all piled back onto Keith’s speeder and flew out towards the rocks.</p><p>The whispering song of Lance’s crystal grew stronger as they got closer, until it was very nearly humming against his skin. Whatever they were getting into, it was big. Lance wished he could warn the others somehow, but what could he say?</p><p>They got far enough that they had to go on foot, and they waited while Hunk calibrated the counter. Lance looked at the rocks that matched the graph, and broke the silence.</p><p>“Okay, I admit it,” he said. “This is super freaky.”</p><p>“I’m getting a reading,” Hunk said.</p><p>He led them forward into the rocks.</p><p>As Hunk’s device beeped more frantically, indicating that they were getting closer to whatever their destination was, Lance grew more and more unsure. His crystal was humming even louder, thrumming through his bones. It felt like – anticipation. But anticipation for what?</p><p>Was the thing giving off the weird readings Atlantean? It wasn’t exactly unheard of for Atlantean technology to be found in random parts of the world.</p><p>“I think I found something!” Hunk called as he and Pidge ran forward. There, at the base of the largest spire of stone, was a cave.</p><p>They climbed down and stood facing the cave. They shared glances, unsure about moving forward, until Shiro spoke. “Let’s go.”</p><p>Lance felt a sense of awe as they entered the cave – and it wasn’t even just the way his crystal was acting that made him feel it. The others were impressed too, making quiet sounds of amazement.</p><p>“What are these?” Shiro asked.</p><p>Lance stepped toward the wall, feeling a gentle pull.</p><p>Keith’s voice came from behind him. “These are the lion carvings I was telling you about. They’re everywhere around here.”</p><p>Lance hummed, leaning toward the wall to get a closer look. His crystal was nearly vibrating with - excitement, it felt like. He went to brush a hand over one of the carvings, and immediately froze. The vibrant thrum that he associated with Atlantis, <em>home,</em> swept through him, and his crystal burned against his chest. The carvings lit, activated by his touch. He reared back.</p><p>“They’ve never done that before,” he heard Keith say. They all looked around in shock.</p><p> Then, the ground glowed and cracked beneath their feet, and they fell, screaming.</p><p>The fall was long and very wet. The cave was like a freaking natural waterslide. Lance fell out of the tunnel first, crashing into a pool of water. The others fell through moments later, still shouting.</p><p>Lance pushed himself up. He was soaked. Ugh. He liked water, yeah, but not so much when getting wet took him by surprise.</p><p>His crystal was still singing insistently, so he looked up – and his eyes went wide and his jaw fell slack.</p><p>“They are everywhere,” he breathed.</p><p>There was a giant blue lion, just sitting in the cave, surrounded by a giant blue bubble. And – he could <em>feel</em> it. It was humming at him, harmonizing with his crystal.</p><p>The others pulled themselves up and stood beside him. Lance couldn’t pull his eyes away from the lion. The humming was – distracting. He had to make a conscious effort to focus on Pidge’s words.</p><p>“Is this it?” Pidge asked, quietly awed. “Is this the Voltron?”</p><p>“It must be,” Shiro agreed.</p><p>“This is what’s been causing all this crazy energy out here,” Keith said, and started towards it. The others followed behind, slower.</p><p>“Looks like there’s a force field around it,” Keith called back to them.</p><p>Lance still couldn’t take his eyes off it. He zig-zagged back and forth a bit. “Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?”</p><p>“…No,” Shiro said.</p><p>“Yeah…the eyes are totally following me.” Lance said. They drew closer, and the dual-toned humming grew louder.</p><p>Keith ran his hands over the barrier. “I wonder how we get through this,” he muttered.</p><p>Lance came up next to him, hands in his pockets. Something was drawing him to touch it…well, might as well go for it.</p><p>“Maybe you just have to knock,” Lance suggested. He raised his hand and knocked twice. A moment later, the force field shone where he’d touched it. The lion’s eyes lit, the bubble receded away from him, and the carvings under the lion’s paws glowed blue.</p><p>Lance’s eyes went wide. He heard the others crying out, but he couldn’t make a sound. The song was too loud – before it was a gentle harmony, now it was a <em>symphony.</em> His crystal thrummed through his bones, and it wasn’t the gentle sweep of <em>home</em> he was accustomed to. It was pure <em>power,</em> and it pinned him in place.</p><p>A vision took over his sight.</p><p>
  <em>Five streaks of light flew into the sky, and combined together in a flash. The symphony sang triumphantly as the figure raised a flaming sword, then flew forward and brought the blade to bear.</em>
</p><p>“Whoa,” Lance breathed as the vision let him go. The symphony wasn’t pinning him in place anymore, but he could still sense the blue lion’s power, purring contently alongside his crystal.</p><p>Wait – had any of the others seen that? Or was it just him?</p><p>“Uh, did everyone just see that?” Lance asked.</p><p>“Voltron is a robot!” Hunk burst out. “Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!”</p><p>That answered that question.</p><p>“And this thing is only one part of it!” Pidge chimed in. “I wonder where the rest of them are.”</p><p>“This is what they’re looking for,” Shiro said.</p><p>Keith’s voice was low and awed. “Incredible.”</p><p>And then the Lion <em>moved.</em></p><p>Pidge and Hunk cried out, and he heard Keith and Shiro jump back, but Lance just stared up at the lion as it bent down toward him. It opened its jaw, and ramp unfolded, right at his feet.</p><p>Lance stared at it, utterly surprised for a moment, and then smirked. <em>Yes.</em></p><p>He went inside.</p><p>The inside of the blue lion was all smooth and futuristic, metallic shades and whites and blues. He found a seat in its head and considered it, then sat down. Hm. There didn’t seem to be anything to do with it… whatever.</p><p>Lance crossed his legs and leaned back. “Here we go,” he said, and then yelped as the seat shoved him forward and nearly put his nose through the dashboard. It lit up at his touch, just as the others came in behind him. The screens cleared, showing a view of the cave beyond.</p><p>“Whoa,” Pidge whispered as Lance laughed.</p><p>“Alright, very nice!” he exclaimed, feeling giddy.</p><p>This was so awesome. And the humming/purring feeling of power in his chest made him want to smile, or run, or - something.</p><p>And of course, that’s when Hunk started talking. Lance darted a petulant look sideways at him. <em>He should be more excited.</em></p><p>“Okay, guys, I – I feel the need to point out, just so we’re all, you know, aware, we are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.”</p><p>Lance started to roll his eyes, but then the purring grew louder, enveloping him, and his awareness of the others faded. His crystal chimed in harmony with the power rumbling through his blood, and suddenly, he <em>knew.  </em></p><p>The sensation faded, but the connection remained.</p><p>“Whoa,” he said. “Did – did you guys just hear that?” Lance asked the others.</p><p>“Hear what?” Keith asked from behind him. He sounded kind of disgruntled. <em>Serves you right, mullet-face</em>, Lance thought, before bending to examine the dashboard.</p><p>“I think it’s talking to me.” Lance considered the panel in front of him. Nothing was marked, but…</p><p>He reached forward anyway, pressing a series of buttons on instinct. Controls extended towards his hands, and the lion got to its feet and roared. Satisfaction curled in Lance’s chest. Hunk yelped beside him.</p><p>“Okay, got it,” Lance said. “Now let’s try this,” he said, feeling a sharp smile cut across his face. He thrust the controls forward.</p><p>The lion jumped up and crashed straight through the cave wall.</p><p>It soared in the air for a moment, arcing gracefully toward the desert. Then, as it approached the ground, it curled into a flip, re-orienting itself just in time to power the thrusters as it roared to the sky.</p><p>It was amazing. It was even better than a flier. A flier always flew exactly how Lance wanted, guided by the slightest touch. The blue lion flew like it wanted to, and Lance was part of the flight in a way he’d never been before.</p><p>Lance felt joy permeating through him, like the kind he felt when he was swimming in a race and glorying in the sensation of using his own body. But the joy wasn’t his, it was the <em>lion’s.</em></p><p>He felt the lion rumble in his chest, a fond sensation that communicated <em>together now.</em> A hint of mischief, and that pure wild joy again –</p><p>And the lion shot back up into the sky. Lance would have been having more fun, except Pidge and Hunk were clinging to him and screaming. One of them had a handful of his hair, but even that couldn’t curb the lion’s shared sense of exhilaration.</p><p>“You are - ” that was Keith, forcing words out behind him. “ - the worst - ”</p><p>The lion arched upwards, and Lance could feel the intent of a backwards flip before it was being completed.</p><p>“ – pilot - ”</p><p>They were upside down and parallel to the ground, and then they pulled smoothly upright.</p><p>“ – ever!” Keith finished.</p><p>Lance was going to ignore him, but the lion growled. She – Lance was starting to get a sense of the lion’s personality – boosted her thrusters and went into a nosedive. Lance was thrown back into his seat, crying out at the steep dive. He heard Keith lose his footing and curse lowly behind him. Huh. Lance was pretty sure the lion had done that solely for the purpose of punishing Keith for calling him a bad pilot.</p><p>Warmth and gratitude filled his heart, and the lion answered with an equal amount of warmth and the idea of <em>more</em> – more flying, more speed, more joy. Lance acquiesced without hesitation.</p><p>They spun together in the air a few more times and then fell towards the ground, landing in a run. Lance could feel the lion’s pleasure at the sprint and laughed, feeling her joy as his own. He grinned giddily, unable to stop.</p><p>He turned to Hunk. “Isn’t this awesome?” he exclaimed.</p><p>“Make it stop! Make it stop!” Hunk answered.</p><p>“I’m not making it do anything! It’s like it’s on autopilot.” That wasn’t exactly the right way to describe how the lion was flying, but it was the closest thing Lance could think of.</p><p>Suddenly, the exhilaration was tempered by a fierce protectiveness. Lance and the lion leapt together into the air, headed straight for the enemy ship they knew was coming for them.</p><p>“Where are you going?” Keith demanded as they shot up into the atmosphere.</p><p><em>“I just said</em> it’s on autopilot! It says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we’re supposed to stop it.”</p><p>“What did it say, exactly?” Pidge asked, exasperated.</p><p>Lance rolled his eyes, knowing he had no way to properly explain that it was like the lion was sharing its mind with him, especially since it was thinking entirely in sensation and ideas. He knew what the lion knew.</p><p>“Well, it’s not like it’s saying words, it’s more like feeding ideas into my brain,” he tried. “Kind of.”</p><p>“If this thing is the weapon they’re coming for, why don’t we just like, I don’t know, give it to them? Maybe they’ll leave us alone.” Hunk suggested.</p><p>Lance did not like that idea, and neither did the lion. He could feel her <em>no</em> at the same time as his own, and it was such an absolute denial of the concept of separation that he almost wanted to cry.</p><p>“Sorry, lion, nothing personal,” Hunk said.</p><p>Thankfully, Lance didn’t have to defend keeping the lion because Shiro stepped in.</p><p>“You don’t understand,” he said. “These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is dead.”</p><p>Hunk shrank back from the flat stares they all gave him. “Oh. Never mind then,” he said.</p><p>Lance looked back to the viewscreen – and they were in <em>space</em>. He’d been dreaming about coming to space for nearly all his life. This was amazing.</p><p>And then, a giant purple alien warship jumped into existence in front of them. They all gaped.</p><p>“Holy crow, is that really an alien ship?” Hunk asked.</p><p>Lance and the lion drew back, watching the ship from a distance.</p><p>“They found me,” Shiro said quietly.</p><p>A moment later, the ship started firing on them.</p><p>“We’ve gotta get out of here!” Pidge yelled to Lance.</p><p>“Hang on!” Lance told everyone, then yanked up on the controls. The lion showed him where to go, and they dodged every blast, then spun to approach the ship again.</p><p>“Okay, I think I know what to do,” Lance said, looking ahead at the ship. He could feel the lion watching too, could feel her fierce growl in his chest.</p><p>“Be careful, man!” Pidge shouted. “This isn’t a simulator!”</p><p>Lance snorted. “Well, that’s good, I always wreck the simulator,” he joked.</p><p>The lion purred. They were doing this together, and Lance wasn’t worried.</p><p><em>Now,</em> the lion felt, and Lance felt it too. He pulled the controls, and the lion opened its jaws. They aimed a blast of energy at the ship, and in the wake of the blast, the ship experienced several explosions.</p><p>“Let’s try <em>this,”</em> Lance said, going fully on instinct. He pulled back, and the lion spun and dove toward the ship. They raked her claws along the side of the ship, and the lion growled in satisfaction. The ship went up in fire behind them as they darted away.</p><p><em>Yes,</em> Lance and the lion thought, united. The next notion felt like it came to them at the same time. They didn’t want that ship anywhere near their home.</p><p>“Nice job, Lance!” Shiro said. <em>Takashi Shirogane</em> was telling him he’d done well. That was good to hear. The lion purred happily. Lance grinned.</p><p>“Okay, I think it’s time to get these guys away from our planet,” he said.</p><p>The lion rumbled in agreement, and shot off, away from the ship.</p><p>“Where are you going <em>now?”</em> Keith demanded, exasperated.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Lance shot back, “but wherever we’re going, they’re following us.”</p><p>“Oh, <em>no!”</em> Hunk exclaimed.</p><p>Pidge’s voice was shrill. “They’re gaining on us!”</p><p>Lance was tense on the controls, waiting for the moment he’d have to dodge more blasts, but none came. It was strange. He voiced his thought to the others. “It’s weird. They’re not trying to shoot us, they’re – they’re just <em>chasing.”</em></p><p>Hunk groaned. “Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is <em>good?</em> I am not on board with this new direction, guys.”</p><p>But no one was listening to Hunk, as they were too busy staring out the viewscreens. “Where are we?” Keith asked.</p><p>“Edge of the solar system,” Shiro answered. “There’s Kerberos.”</p><p>Pidge was incredulous. “It takes <em>months</em> for our ships to get out this far,” he said. “We got out here in five seconds.”</p><p>Just as they passed Kerberos, a flash lit in front of them, fading to reveal a swirling hole in space, veined with white light. Lance’s crystal hummed, and pulled towards it. The lion kept moving towards it, and Lance had an idea that this was where she had wanted to go all along.</p><p>“What is that?” Hunk said nervously.</p><p>“Uh,” Lance started, “This may seem crazy, but I think the lion wants us to go through there!”</p><p>Pidge’s eyes were wide, and his voice dropped. “Where does it go?” he asked.</p><p>“I – I don’t know,” Lance said. The lion had no answers, only a sense of reassurance. His crystal thrummed harder as they drew closer. It was hard to think. “Shiro?” he asked. “You’re the senior officer here. What should we do?”</p><p>“Whatever’s happening, the lion knows more than we do,” Shiro said. “I say we trust it. But we’re a team now. We should decide together.”</p><p>There was silence for a moment as they all met each other’s gazes, and unspoken agreement passed between them. Pidge placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder.</p><p>“Alright,” Lance said. “Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow.”</p><p>He pushed the controls forward, and the lion dove headfirst into the swirl of darkness and light.</p><p>The sensation was indescribable. The world was compressed and trembling around them, and Lance’s crystal jarred in disharmony and amplified the feeling until he felt like his bones were about to shake out of his skin.</p><p>A second later, it was over. “Whoa,” Lance managed, frazzled. “That was…”</p><p>Hunk made a choked sound beside him and vomited, thankfully turning away. Lance craned his neck away in disgust anyway. He loved Hunk, sure, the big guy was awesome, but even after three years together, Lance was never going to be okay with that. It didn’t help that the lion was sharing a certain level of visceral discontent with him.</p><p>Hunk gasped. “So sorry,” he said breathlessly.</p><p>Pidge shrugged. “I’m just surprised it took this long,” he said.</p><p>Shiro was ignoring them, staring out the viewscreen. “I don’t recognize any of these constellations,” he said. “We must be a long, long way from Earth.” There was a planet ahead of them – large and almost Earth-like, but unfamiliar.</p><p>The lion was still forging ahead, set on a destination that Lance couldn’t exactly discern…oh. A distant, familiar thrum echoed between himself and the lion, coming from the planet’s surface.</p><p>“The lion seems to want to go to this planet,” he told his teammates. “I think…I think it’s going home.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wow, okay, this chapter was about 5,000 words - nearly the length of the previous two chapters combined. Good on you for getting through it all.</p><p>I really want to spend some time focusing on the relationships between the paladins and the lions and how they communicate in this story because I feel like we didn't get enough of that in canon. I hope you all enjoyed that aspect of this chapter! Actually, there's a lot of things that canon didn't bother to explain, like: how did Keith put together when something was coming from a bunch of cave paintings? How did the people who made the paintings know that something would be coming? <i>How the hell did a wavelength graph match a landscape form? </i>  I have theories, and I will get to explaining them eventually.</p><p>(Note: but by the way, in the episode, that is <i>not</i> what a wavelength graph looks like, although I suppose I could accept that it's weird because it's an alien trans-dimensional element, but whatever. Also, that's not...really...what a Fraunhofer line is? Fraunhofer lines are the missing wavelengths in the emission spectrum of a <i>star</i> that correspond to the absorption of those wavelengths by gases in the star's atmosphere. It's how astronomers determine what elements are present in faraway stars. Individual elements <i>do</i> have their own emission spectra, but that refers to what wavelengths of light an element emits depending on what state of excitement its electrons are in. The two things are related, but they're not the same thing. Just by the way. In case you wanted to know that...)</p><p>Next chapter we get to the Castle of Lions! I'm going to try and update on a more or less weekly basis, I think. I'm on <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> if you want to come ask me things!</p><p>This work is unbeta'd, and all mistakes are my own.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The cadets arrive at the Castle of Lions, and subsequently meet Princess Allura and her advisor Coran. Lance begins to put the pieces together.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Alright, here is Chapter 4! Sorry for the wait. </p><p>Thank you so much to all the lovely people who have left kudos or comments or have bookmarked or subscribed to this work! It means so much to me to see that people are enjoying what I write.</p><p>Anyway, we get to some of the starting-to-diverge-from-canon material in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!</p><p>*Some of the dialogue in this chapter is original. Anything you recognize is from Voltron 1X01, The Rise of Voltron.*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The lion shuddered as it broke through the planet’s atmosphere and dove through the cloud cover. The others all clung to the pilot’s chair, and by extension, to Lance. It was highly uncomfortable, and Hunk’s breath smelled. As soon as the lion’s flight evened out a bit, Lance had to say something.</p><p>“Guys, personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me,” he said.</p><p>Nobody leaned away.</p><p>“Um, is it just me, or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?” Hunk asked. “Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?!”</p><p>Lance bristled and jumped to the lion’s defense without a second thought. “It got us away from that alien warship, didn’t it?”</p><p>Keith stood up straight as he spoke, irritation clear in his voice. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re <em>in</em> an alien warship.” The others relaxed and moved away from Lance as well, allowing him some room again.</p><p>Lance darted a glance back at Keith, equally irritated with him and his attitude. At the very least, he was going to give as good as he got. He smirked and raised a brow sardonically. “Oh, are you scared?”</p><p>Narrowed indigo eyes stared back at him. “With you at the helm?” Keith deadpanned. “Terrified.”</p><p>Jerk.</p><p>Shiro interrupted their unfriendly verbal sparring before Lance could fire back a retort. “Alright, knock it off,” he ordered. “No one’s happy to be in this situation, but we’re here now. If we want to get through this, we’ve got to do it together.”</p><p>“So, what do we do?” Pidge asked.</p><p>“First, we find out where we’re headed,” Shiro answered. “Lance?”</p><p>The lion’s presence was still clear in Lance’s mind, and his crystal was still gently humming. Lance could feel the distant song of their destination growing closer, but there was no new information forthcoming. “I…don’t know,” he said, hating to disappoint Shiro.</p><p>They were all staring at him. “I’m sorry, the lion’s not talking to me anymore…” Lance’s eyes widened as he looked out the viewscreen. Apparently, the lion didn’t have to tell him anything. There was a freaking castle out there.</p><p>“Lance?” Pidge asked.</p><p>Lance grinned. “If I had to guess, I’d say we’re going to that castle up ahead.” The others immediately looked up, making soft sounds of awe.</p><p>The castle gleamed in the sunlight, all shining white metal and tall spires. As they drew nearer, the lion abruptly felt – brighter. It purred in satisfaction, calling out to the castle. The castle’s towers lit, an answering beacon that felt like a note of triumph. Lance’s crystal joined the harmony, vibrating against his skin. Lance was hit with a sense of familiarity, much like back in the blue lion’s cave. This castle <em>felt</em> like Atlantis. But how?</p><p>His crystal didn’t quiet as the lion came in for a landing. It only grew louder. The lion purred in his mind, sharing with him an eager, happy feeling.</p><p>Lance shook his head in an attempt to clear it. All the different sensations were pretty confusing.</p><p>The lion thumped to the ground and lowered its head in a clear indication for them to climb out.</p><p>“Keep your guard up,” Shiro said.</p><p>Pidge looked up at him. “Something wrong?”</p><p>“My crew was captured by aliens once,” Shiro said grimly. “I’m not going to let it happen again.”</p><p>Lance looked at the castle once more, brow furrowed. He had a good feeling about this place. He didn’t think there was any reason for worry, but he wasn’t about to contradict Shiro. And besides…aliens.</p><p>The other four were already leaving the cockpit, so Lance followed, right behind Keith. The lion’s mouth was already open, waiting for them to disembark.</p><p>“I’m really glad it turns out we can breathe this air,” Pidge muttered.</p><p>As soon as they were all out, the ground beneath them trembled as the lion raised its head. Hunk yelped and babbled in fear. The lion roared.</p><p>Lance turned on instinct, following the lion’s focus. A giant set of doors lit up and slid open.</p><p>Hunk’s babbling ceased. “Oh, the door is open.” He looked up at the lion sheepishly. “Guess I was wrong about you.”</p><p>Lance felt a faint exasperation wash through his mind, and it definitely wasn’t his. Apparently the lion was still talking to him, even when he wasn’t at her helm – though it was much harder to hear her. The lion gave him a gentle mental nudge.</p><p>“Guess we’re going inside,” he said.</p><p>When the others looked at him, he shrugged. They all shared wary looks, and then together, they walked forward into a darkened hall.</p><p>The entire place was permeated with a gentle humming – much like Atlantis, actually, although it was weaker than that. Lance didn’t know if the others could feel it – after all, they’d all seen the vision of the giant robot – but he decided to keep quiet for the time being.</p><p>“Hello?” Hunk called out. His voice echoed through the hall as they all whirled to look at him. Under their gazes,  he shrugged and ducked his head in embarrassment.</p><p>Lance’s crystal shivered, and his gaze darted up just as the ceiling began to glow. A pillar of blue light came down on the five of them. He gasped in surprise.</p><p><em>“Hold for identity scan,”</em> said a stilted voice.</p><p>Lance jerked in surprise, staring down at his body as a ring of light came up around him, and around the others too.</p><p>Shiro stared up at the ceiling. “Why are we here?” He said clearly. “What do you want with us?”</p><p>There was no answer. The scan finished, and lights on the walls lit one by one, drastically brightening the room.</p><p>The lights showed a clear path down one hallway. “I guess we’re going that way,” Pidge said, and no one argued with him.</p><p>*</p><p>They wandered through the abandoned castle, following the path of lights. It felt kind of creepy and strange, but not like it was dangerous. Hunk called out every so often, but every time his voice echoed, and no one answered.</p><p>Lance’s crystal had settled into a contented hum, matching that of the castle around them. He did not understand what was happening. What the heck was this castle? How was it tied to Atlantis – to <em>him?</em>  He tried not to think about it too much, to focus on just following the others, but it was hard to ignore.</p><p>Finally, the lights led them to a doorway. As they approached, the doorway opened, leading into a strange circular room.</p><p>As they entered, Hunk called out again. “Hello?”</p><p>“Where are we?” Lance asked.</p><p>Pidge approached the center console. “It’s some kind of… control room,” he answered, then spun with a gasp when he heard a hissing sound behind him. They all turned to face the far wall as some kind of pod rose up from the floor.</p><p>Lance was closest to it, and he peered at it. It looked like…it looked like there was someone inside!</p><p>A second pod rose up on the heels of the first. They all watched the pods warily.</p><p>“Are these guys…dead?” Hunk asked.</p><p>Just then, the surface of one of the pods shimmered and opened.</p><p>“Father,” a voice gasped.</p><p>Instinctively, Lance caught the figure who fell out of the pod. <em>Thira?</em></p><p>No, he realized quickly, it wasn’t Thira, just a girl who bore a resemblance to her…a girl who looked Atlantean, almost…and she was <em>gorgeous</em>. Lance felt himself flush.</p><p>“Who are you? Where am I?” Not-Thira asked, blinking strangely pupiled eyes.</p><p>Lance covered his confusion with bravado. “I’m Lance, and you’re right here in my arms,” he said with a suave smile.</p><p>She blinked in confusion. “Your…ears…”</p><p>His ears? “Uh, yeah?”</p><p>Not-Thira’s expression focused. “They’re hideous,” she declared, pulling away from him. “What’s wrong with them?”</p><p>Lance glared at her, dropping his arms. “Nothing’s wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!”</p><p>An instant later, Not-Thira grabbed him by one of his ears and twisted, slamming him to the ground on his knees before he had a chance to react.</p><p>“Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?” She demanded.</p><p>“Ow,” Lance managed, tears pricking at his eyes. “A giant blue lion brought us here. That’s all we know!”</p><p>“How do <em>you</em> have the Blue Lion?” She released him. “What happened to its paladin?”</p><p>Lance got to his feet, giving Not-Thira a miffed glare.</p><p>“What are you all doing here? Unless…” Her eyes widened. “How long has it been?”</p><p>Shiro stepped in. “We don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said calmly. “Why don’t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”</p><p>Not-Thira lifted her chin. “I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea,” she said. She walked toward the center console. “I’ve got to find out where we are, and how long we’ve been asleep.”</p><p>She placed her hands on the pad and it lit blue. Lance shouldn’t have been surprised by how familiar it was at this point, but he found himself startled anyway. It was so much like when he activated a flier back in Atlantis. What <em>was</em> this place?</p><p>Pidge peered up from the other side of the console. “Okay, that’s how that works,” he commented.</p><p>The other pod shimmered and opened, and a man with orange hair tumbled out. He saw Lance, standing nearby, and exclaimed, “Enemy combatants!” He leapt for Lance a moment later, but Lance dodged him easily, raising a brow as the man stumbled and crashed into the pod Princess Allura had emerged from.</p><p>“Quiznak!” He turned to glare at Lance, and Lance’s eyes widened. He had marks on his cheeks, and they were the same shade of blue as Atlantean tattoos. “You’re lucky I have a case of the old ‘sleep chamber knees’,” the man declared, “otherwise I’d grab your head like this, wrap you up like so – and one, two, three – sleepy time!”</p><p>Lance took the bait, immediately describing how he would have countered that move, and the man replied in kind. Lance was about to mime how he would have executed an awesome kick that would definitely have won the little mock battle when the princess interrupted them.</p><p>“It can’t be,” she said.</p><p>The orange-haired man immediately turned to her, seemingly deeming Lance to not be a threat. “What is it?” He asked her.</p><p>“We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years!” Lance could hear horror in her voice, and his own eyes widened. They’d been stuck in there for ten thousand years? That was… unfathomable.</p><p>The princess continued, voice trembling. “Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed.”</p><p>Lance met Hunk’s gaze, seeing that he looked as horrified as Lance felt.</p><p>“Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization…” He voice hardened. “Zarkon,” she said venomously.</p><p>Shiro gasped quietly. “Zarkon?” He repeated.</p><p>“He was the king of the Galra. A vile creature, and enemy to all free people!” said Princess Allura.</p><p>“I remember now,” Shiro said, and looked up. “I was his prisoner.”</p><p>“He’s still alive? Impossible!” The princess protested.</p><p>“I can’t explain it, but it’s true,” Shiro insisted. “He’s searching for a superweapon called Voltron.”</p><p>The princess nodded. “He’s searching for it because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him, and that’s exactly why we must find it before he does.”</p><p>“Yes, Princess,” interjected Coran, “But there are some other things we should attend to first. After so long in stasis, you need sustenance and rest. In fact, I’ll go fetch some food immediately!”</p><p>“Food?” Hunk perked up. “Can I come?”</p><p>“Of course!” Coran exclaimed. He wrapped an arm around Hunk’s shoulders and led him out. “Everyone else, just wait here! We’ll be back soon!” He called behind them.</p><p>A minute later, Lance glanced around. Pidge had quickly become distracted with examining the stasis pods, and Shiro had a hand on Keith’s shoulder as they spoke about something. The princess was bracing herself on the console, breathing deeply.</p><p>Lance sidled closer to her. “Uh, Princess? Your highness?” He asked softly. “Are you okay?”</p><p>She looked up at him with those strange but very pretty eyes. “Your highness?” She asked, confused.</p><p>Lance scratched his head. “Is that not how people address princesses out here?”</p><p>She smiled, a bit wan but genuine. “Please, just call me Allura,” she said. “You said your name is…Lance?”</p><p>He blushed, flattered that she remembered. “Uh, yes, yup, that’s me, Lance,” he stumbled.</p><p>Allura straightened. “Thank you for your concern, Lance, but I assure you I am quite fine,” she said.</p><p>Lance was a hundred percent sure that was a complete lie, but he really didn’t know this girl well enough to push her on it. He was trying to figure out what to say next when Pidge called over.</p><p>“Hey, Princess? Can I ask you something?”</p><p>Allura turned to him, facing away from Lance. “Yes, of course…may I ask something first though?”</p><p>Pidge nodded, confused. “What is your name?” Allura asked.</p><p>“Oh!” Pidge blushed. “Sorry, I…uh, I’m Pidge, and they’re…” he gestured to Shiro and Keith, who had started paying attention to the conversation.</p><p>“My name is Shiro,” Shiro told her, and looked at Keith, who had come forward and was now standing next to Lance.</p><p>Keith raised a hand awkwardly in greeting. “I’m Keith,” he said.</p><p>Allura nodded at them regally. “Pidge, Shiro, and Keith,” she repeated. “I am pleased to meet you all, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”</p><p>“We’re glad to meet you too,” Shiro said.</p><p>She smiled at him, then turned to Pidge. “You had a question?”</p><p>“Uh, yes,” Pidge said. “How come we can understand you? I mean, it sounds like you’re speaking English…”</p><p>“I am speaking Altean,” Allura said. “The Castle is translating our words.”</p><p>“Okay…” Pidge thought for a moment. “But how does the Castle know English?”</p><p>“That is the language you are speaking?” Allura questioned, looking around at them as they nodded.</p><p>She looked at Lance. “You said you arrived in the Blue Lion?”</p><p>Lance nodded.</p><p>“Where did you find it?” She asked.</p><p>“It was out in the desert,” Keith answered. “On Earth.”</p><p>Allura turned to him. “Do you know how long it was there?”</p><p>Keith tilted his head. “A few centuries, at least, I think. Probably longer.”</p><p>Allura nodded. “It probably learned your language during its time on your planet, and has shared that information with the Castle.”</p><p>“That’s incredible,” Pidge breathed. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by the return of Hunk and Coran. They had with them floating plates brimful of green goo.</p><p>Lance looked at the stuff skeptically, then at Hunk. Hunk shrugged. “It’s…not <em>that</em> bad,” he offered.</p><p>“Not that bad?” Coran interjected. “It has all the nutritional value you need to be as healthy as a flomengorp in summer! It’s great!”</p><p><em>Flomengorp,</em> Pidge mouthed, looking at the rest of them as Coran turned his attention to the Princess. Lance shrugged, as confused as Pidge.</p><p>“Princess, you must eat,” Coran urged. “It’s been ten thousand years!”</p><p>“I’m not hungry,” Allura demurred.</p><p>Lance lost track of what they were saying, distracted as he and Keith had started sniping at each other again. “Whatever, dropout,” Lance scoffed at him. Keith glared back.</p><p>They tuned back in just as Coran said “…but now it is gone, and we’re the last Alteans alive.”</p><p>Sobered, Lance stared at Allura. He couldn’t imagine that kind of loss. To lose not only his family – his big, crazy, affectionate family – but also Veradero and Atlantis and all of Earth itself…he’d probably go insane if he lost all that.</p><p>Coran stepped closer to Allura, and she broke. She darted forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, gasping into his shoulder.</p><p>Lance looked away, uncomfortable. This didn’t feel like something they should all see. He met Keith’s gaze, and he looked equally uncomfortable. They all stood in silence for a few moments, witnessing as the last Alteans took a moment to mourn their lost people.</p><p>Suddenly, Allura pulled back from Coran, wiping at her eyes. He looked at her, confused. She walked over to the stasis pod she had so recently emerged from, and let out a quiet gasp. “Looks like we’re not the last after all,” she said, quiet joy suffusing her voice. She reached down and picked something up, and turned to the rest of the room.</p><p>In her hands were four tiny living creatures – they looked like multi-colored mice. Allura stared down at them, smiling as though they were something precious. Lance was glad to see it.</p><p>An alarm blared out, causing the people in the room to jump or wince at the sound.</p><p>The console turned red, and Coran rushed to look at it. “A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!”</p><p>“How did they find us?” Allura exclaimed.</p><p>Still irritated with Keith, Lance answered, “I’m not sure, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault.”</p><p>“Say whatever you’ve gotta say to make yourself feel better,” Keith shot back. He turned to sneer at Lance.  “After getting us <em>stuck</em> on the other side of a wormhole!”</p><p>As ever, Lance <em>hated </em>Keith Kogane.</p><p>He got in Keith’s face. “I’ll stick you in a wormhole!”</p><p>Shiro got between them, putting a hand on Lance’s chest and pressing him back. “Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame, it’s time to work as a team!” He turned back to Allura and Coran, leaving Lance and Keith to simmer mutinously for a moment. “How long before they arrive?”</p><p>Coran answered. “At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two…I’d say probably a couple of days?”</p><p>“Good. Let them come,” Allura said fiercely. “By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon’s empire.”</p><p>Lance glanced at the others. The five of them? Destroy an empire?</p><p>Shiro took it in stride. “Princess, there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?”</p><p>Allura considered them. “Come with me,” she said, and walked out of the room.</p><p>*</p><p>Coran walked next to the princess as they led the newcomers down the Castle’s seemingly endless hallways.</p><p>The humming Lance had been feeling from his crystal increased sharply in intensity as they grew closer to their destination, and his steps stuttered as his hand darted to his chest. Keith gave him a weird look, but no one else noticed.</p><p>What was happening?</p><p>They reached another set of great double-doors, and as they slid open, the breath was punched out of him as his crystal lurched into joyful chiming. Lance finally understood what was so strange and yet familiar about this place. There, right in the middle of the room, was a Great Crystal<em>.</em> Another one.</p><p>There was another Great Crystal – how the fuck was there another Great crystal?</p><p><em>“Yobmok,”</em>  Lance murmured, eyes locked on the crystal.</p><p>“What?” Keith asked, looking at him strangely again.</p><p>Lance was suddenly grateful they were at the back of the group and no one else had noticed his strange behavior. “Nothing, Mullet,” he said, and pushed past Keith to enter the room.</p><p>He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the crystal – okay, it wasn’t exactly like the Heart of Atlantis - it wasn’t glowing or floating, and being near it didn’t feel as strong as the Heart of Atlantis, but…</p><p>Apparently the Heart of Atlantis really did come from space. Milo would be glad to hear his theories were right.</p><p>Allura stepped up to a platform beneath the crystal, and it lit up. Lance <em>felt</em> it, and his eyes went wide. It’s alive, he thought. Not as alive as the one back home, but it <em>was.</em></p><p>“King Alfor connected the lions to Allura’s life force,” Coran explained. “She alone is the key to the lions’ whereabouts.”</p><p>Lance itched to ask about the crystal, but he didn’t know how.</p><p>Allura opened her eyes, and the room burst with light. It was like a 3D star map. Lance heard several soft sounds of awe. It was incredible.</p><p>“These are…coordinates,” Pidge said. “The Black Lion looks like it’s in the same location as the Blue Lion.”</p><p>“Very observant,” Allura complimented. “That’s because the Black Lion is in the Castle.”</p><p>Coran elaborated. “To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon’s hands, King Alfor locked it in the Castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present.”</p><p>Allura picked up the thread again. “As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced.”</p><p>Lance still really wanted to know about the Great Crystal just <em>hanging</em> in the middle of the room – he could hardly focus on anything else – but okay, he wanted to know about this too. So he had a mystical bond with the Blue Lion, huh? He didn’t have a ton of experience with mystic things. He had something of a talent with the crystal arts, but he was no crystal mage. And yet, here he was.</p><p>“The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion,” Allura continued. “Together, they form something greater than science can explain.”</p><p><em>Quintessence?</em>  Lance wondered. <em>Like mana? Or something else entirely?</em></p><p>Allura reached out and spun the star map. “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation.” The star map drew to a standstill, with the image of the Black Lion hovering before Shiro’s face. “That is why, Shiro, <em>you</em> will pilot the Black Lion.”</p><p>Allura spun the map again. “The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring.” The image of the Green Lion floated up to Pidge’s wide eyes. “Pidge, <em>you</em> will pilot the Green Lion.”</p><p>“The Blue Lion is patient, and the most adaptable of the five lions. Its pilot must be a person with great untapped potential.” Keith raised an eyebrow in disbelief, shooting Lance a dubious look. Lance scowled at him. “Lance, the Blue Lion has already chosen you.” Lance blinked at the likeness hovering before him, then looked back at the princess.</p><p>She continued. "The Yellow Lion is caring and kind.” The holographic Yellow Lion drifted toward Hunk. “Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together." Hunk started, and then looked rather like he wanted to run away.</p><p>Allura brought her hands together, and an image of the final Lion took shape above her palms. "The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable.” She lifted her hands and sent the image forward. “Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone.” The image of the Red Lion drew to a stop before Keith. “Keith,<em> you</em> will fly the Red Lion."</p><p>“What, this guy?” Lance asked mockingly, in retaliation for Keith’s look a few moments ago. Keith and Lance glared at each other.</p><p>Allura ignored them. “Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion’s coordinates yet,” she said apologetically. “There must be something wrong with the Castle. After ten thousand years, it might need some work.” She smiled.</p><p>“Don’t worry, we’ll find it soon,” Coran assured them. He went off on a short tangent about his capabilities as a mechanic that went largely ignored.</p><p>The newly chosen pilots of the Voltron lions gasped as the images of their lions solidified, then flew off to join together in the middle of the room.</p><p>“Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe.” Allura declared.</p><p>Above her, a hologram of Voltron stood triumphant. “Whoa,” Lance breathed. The image faded.</p><p>“Awesome!” Hunk said. Then, his anxiety seemed to strike him, and he began to babble questions.</p><p>It wasn’t long before Shiro interrupted him. “We don’t have much time,” he said. “Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one.”</p><p>Oh, yeah. It felt good to have Shiro give him a mission like that. It felt good to be useful. But…he glanced at the crystal. How would he even ask about it? What would he say? Hey, can you tell me where that comes from because there’s one of them on Earth and it supports a mythical city that no one believes exists? He didn’t think that would work very well.</p><p>“Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.” Shiro finished.</p><p>“In the meantime, I’ll get the Castle’s defenses ready,” Allura said. “They’ll be sorely needed.”</p><p>“I’ll ready a pod, and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion,” Coran said. “You two, come with me.”</p><p>“I can lead you back out of the Castle to the Blue Lion,” Allura offered to Lance and Hunk. “I know the way around the Castle can be somewhat confusing when you don’t know it well.”</p><p>“Thanks, Princess,” Lance said.</p><p>Coran called over from where he was ushering Pidge and Shiro out of the room. “Just come back after to open the wormholes!”</p><p>“I know, Coran,” Allura said, and led Lance and Hunk out of the room as well.</p><p>“Wormholes?” Hunk asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Allura answered, glancing behind her as they walked.</p><p>Their walk was consumed by Hunk questioning the princess about the Castle’s capability to create wormholes. Lance stayed quiet. So, apparently the Castle’s crystal acted like a power source, just like the Heart of Atlantis – although as far as he was aware, the Heart of Atlantis could not make wormholes. And Allura…he was trying to avoid staring at her too obviously, but he couldn’t help it. It seemed like she was kind of like a crystal mage, except she didn’t wear a crystal. He hadn’t seen one on Coran either.</p><p>Allura laughed lightly under Hunk’s barrage of curiosity. “I’m afraid if you want to know more, you will have to ask Coran,” she said, and drew to a stop as they reached the front hall. “I think you can find your way from here,” she told them.</p><p>Lance still hadn’t managed to ask about their Great Crystal. Where had they gotten it? And how had one ended up on Earth? He looked at Allura again, and something struck him. He’d thought it the moment they met – she looked Atlantean. Or, maybe, Atlanteans looked like her. Maybe, it wasn’t just the Yobmok that came from space – but the Atlanteans themselves. Or, their ancestors at least.</p><p>Maybe Allura and Coran weren’t the sole survivors of the genocide against the Altean people. Maybe…some of the survivors had settled on Earth.</p><p>“Lance?” Lance started. He had been staring at the princess, lost in thought. Hunk had spoken, and was giving him a quizzical look.</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Lance said. “Sorry. See ya when we get back, Princess! Don’t get too sad while I’m gone!” He shot her finger guns and a smile and went to join Hunk.</p><p>As they walked out of the Castle, Lance tried to shake off his thoughts and focus on the mission. <em>Shiro is counting on you,</em> he reminded himself. <em>You can’t screw it up.</em></p><p>He took one last look at the Castle, lit by the power of the Great Crystal within.</p><p><em>Yobmok gwisiskem so,</em> he thought, and turned to board the Blue Lion once again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but I don't think it's going to get much better so I went ahead and posted it.</p><p><b>Quick Atlantean Definitions</b><br/>Yobmok - Great Crystal<br/>Mana - life energy, a term equivalent to quintessence<br/>Yobmok gwisiskem so - Great Crystal be with us</p><p>If you want to know more about the Atlantean words I'm using, please go check out my <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/620023133342154752/atlantean-language-masterpost">Atlantean Language Masterpost</a> on <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/">my tumblr!</a></p><p>If you’re wondering who Thira is, as she has been mentioned a couple times in this story, she is the Princess of Atlantis and Lance’s childhood best friend. If you want to know a bit more about her, you can read the second story in this series, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23895727">feel the tones that tremble</a>.</p><p>Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The rest of the Lions are retrieved, and the bonds of Voltron are forged once more.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you recognize it, it's not mine.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you’ll have to be quick about your work,” Coran’s voice informed Hunk and Lance over the comms as Lance piloted the Blue Lion above the atmosphere.</p><p>Coran continued. “The good news is, according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives!”</p><p>“Wait, what?” Lance yelped. But it was too late. His crystal chimed, and the wormhole opened around the Blue Lion.</p><p>Lance braced himself, more prepared this time for the sensation of his bones shaking inside him – though it was still uncomfortable.</p><p>The wormhole spat them out in the upper atmosphere of the planet. Lance shook his head as he got his bearings. “Guess we’re here,” he said to Hunk.</p><p>“Let’s hurry,” Hunk said. “I don’t want to be stuck here forever!”</p><p>The Blue Lion’s sensors showed that the Yellow Lion was very close. Lance dove down into the atmosphere towards it.</p><p>Beside him, Hunk tapped the dashboard anxiously. “What if Allura’s wrong?” he asked. “What if the Yellow Lion decides it doesn’t like me and chews me up and then spits me back out and then we never make it back and spend the rest of our lives here?”</p><p>“Buddy, relax,” Lance said. “Don’t doubt the space princess. She knew what she was doing when she sent us here.”</p><p>A pulse of alarm struck through Lance, and it took him a moment to discern that it was from Blue. On instinct, he and Blue twisted to the left, and a shot flashed past the viewport.</p><p>“What was that!” Hunk cried.</p><p>“I think someone’s shooting at us!” Lance answered. He and Blue dodged again, weaving through more shots. Lance had no clue what he was doing, but luckily Blue was taking the lead.</p><p>More shots flew past the viewport, just missing them, and both Hunk and Lance yelped in panic. Blue touched Lance’s mind, sending him assurance as they twisted out of the way of more missiles.</p><p>“How are we going to get to the Yellow Lion now?!” Hunk cried.</p><p>Lance and Blue dodged one of the missiles, but moved straight into the path of another one. Lance felt it as the blow hit Blue’s flank. The shock of the explosion struck both him and Blue, and they spiraled down toward the ground.</p><p>Hunk and Lance screamed, and alarms blared in the cockpit. “I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!” Hunk shouted.</p><p>“Maybe ‘peaceful’ means something else in Altean!” Lance shouted back. He and Blue pulled up right before they hit the ground, and shot forward.</p><p>Hunk righted himself and checked the dashboard. “According to these coordinates, we’re right on top of the Yellow Lion.” He looked out the viewport. “It’s below there, where they’re mining for ore. I don’t think they even know it’s there! Or maybe they just got here, and they’re digging for the Lion? What do you think, Lance?”</p><p>Lance glanced at Hunk with abject frustration. “Who cares! Just go get it!” Lance banked right and dove. “I’m dropping you down there!”</p><p>“Me, down there?” Hunk said. “No. No, no, no - ”</p><p>“Yes, I’ll cover you,” Lance said, insistent. He and Blue dropped to the ground and ran towards the mine.</p><p>Hunk panicked. “No – what if the Yellow Lion doesn’t work? What if – what if I can’t get in the mine? What if I start crying?”</p><p>“Sorry, no time for questions,” Lance said.</p><p>A panel in the floor opened, and Blue dropped Hunk out of her mouth right in front of the mine. Immediately, Blue and Lance twisted around to face their pursuers, blocking any shots from reaching Hunk as he scrambled into the mine.</p><p>“It’s up to you now, buddy,” Lance muttered as he and Blue ran forward to engage the Galra fighters firing at them. Blue purred in his mind, showing him a sense of the battlefield as she perceived it. They twisted and swung her tail into a fighter coming up behind them, and blasted another two coming down from above.</p><p>Lance grinned. “Let’s do this, girl,” he said, and they leapt into the air.</p><p>Lance found it hard to keep track of what was happening as he and Blue ducked and wove, reversing directions in an instant and firing back at their attackers. What he could see through the viewports was overlaid with Blue’s perception of things, and they had to act in response to what they saw as soon as they sensed it. There was no time to think.</p><p>He tried to focus on protecting the tunnel mouth where Hunk had disappeared, but it was hard to stay in one place. He and Blue kept being forced away as they protected themselves.</p><p>Blue flared an alarm, and Lance looked just in time to see a missile fired straight at the tunnel – <em>where Hunk was</em>. Panic sharpened everything. There was no way he and Blue could make it in time to intercept –</p><p>– and then, moments before the missile struck, a new note emerged in the bond that Lance shared with Blue. A deep, triumphant hum, colored with nervous exultation. The crystal against his skin chimed in time with Blue’s answering call. It was like a more intense and yet incomplete version of what Lance had felt the other day when he, Hunk, Pidge, Keith and Shiro had all been together for the first time.</p><p>The missile exploded, and the cave mouth collapsed, but Lance felt no fear, because Hunk and the Yellow Lion were still present in his bond with Blue.</p><p>He and Blue snapped out of their distraction as another trio of fighters attacked them. Blue’s joy in his mind was blinding.</p><p>Two explosive missiles hit Blue in quick succession, and they crashed toward the ground. They hit the ground hard, and Lance winced as he and Blue struggled up to stand.</p><p>Lance could feel that Blue needed a moment to recover, but they didn’t have time – three fighters were flying straight towards them, launching their missiles –</p><p>– the Yellow Lion’s hum intensified, and it leapt out of the ground in front of Lance and Blue, taking the shots meant for them.</p><p>The explosion cleared, and Lance saw the Yellow Lion attack and bring down the three Galra fighters in a single bound.</p><p>“You okay, Lance?” Hunk said, his voice coming through Blue’s speakers.</p><p>“Hunk! You did it!” Lance said.</p><p>A video window opened on the viewport, showing Hunk inside the Yellow Lion’s cockpit. “I know! Can you believe how strong the armor on this thing is? Man, can it take a beating!”</p><p>A new wave of fighters flew at the two Lions. “We’ve got incoming!” Hunk announced.</p><p>Another video window opened on Lance’s viewport, this time showing Princess Allura back at the Castle. “Paladins, please hurry back. I can’t hold the wormhole much longer!”</p><p>Lance nodded. “On our way, Princess! Hunk, let’s get out of here!”</p><p>Both Lions leapt into the sky, and disappeared into the wormhole in a flash of light.</p><p>*</p><p>Blue purred happily in Lance’s mind during the entire flight back to the Castle. Apparently, Blue had missed the Yellow Lion. The purring intensified when they arrived at the Castle and saw the Green Lion sitting in front of the entrance.</p><p>Lance smiled and patted Blue’s dashboard as he got up to leave. “I’m happy for you, girl,” he said.</p><p>Unfortunately, even Blue’s overflowing happiness couldn’t sustain Lance’s good mood once he and Hunk returned to the control room at the Castle.</p><p>Hunk grumbled loudly as they entered that the planet he and Lance had just returned from had been swarming with Galra troops.</p><p>Coran grimaced sympathetically. “I’m afraid that’s not the worst of it,” he said.</p><p>Coran informed everyone that the Red Lion had indeed been located; but it was on a Galra ship orbiting the planet they were on. Evidently, ‘a few days’ had been something of an overestimation of the time they had until the Galra arrived.</p><p>“They’re here already?” Shiro asked sharply.</p><p>Coran grimaced. “It seems that Galran technology has evolved over the past 10,000 decaphoebs,” he explained. “They got here much more quickly than I thought they could.”</p><p>“Decaphoebs?” Pidge murmured. Lance shot him a glance. Trying to figure out the weird words Coran kept using was really not the important thing to focus on at this moment.</p><p>“So what do we do?” Lance asked.</p><p>“We must retrieve the Red Lion,” the Princess said firmly.</p><p>The viewscreen behind her flickered. A strange purple face appeared upon it.</p><p>“Dios mío,” Lance muttered. He knew, intellectually, that Allura and Coran were aliens; but they didn’t look very much like aliens. They looked nearly human, and their familiarity to Lance was exacerbated by their resemblance to the Atlanteans.</p><p>The alien on the screen was entirely different. He had purple fur and large, pointed ears. His visible eye was yellow and pupilless, and as he began to speak, Lance saw fangs in his mouth. He swallowed, trying to ignore the pinpricks of fear he felt at the sight.</p><p>
  <em>“Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet.”</em>
</p><p>The screen went dark.</p><p>“Alright, let’s not panic,” Shiro said.</p><p>Hunk went stiff. “Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us, we only have four Lions - ”</p><p>Pidge crossed his arms. “Technically, only three working Lions.”</p><p>“That’s right, thank you, Pidge,” Hunk said. “<em>Three</em> working Lions and a Castle that’s like, 10,000 years old!”</p><p>“Actually, it’s 10,600 years old,” Coran interjected. “You see, it was built by my grandfather - ”</p><p>“Thanks, Coran, thank you for that,” Hunk said sarcastically. “See? Now is the perfect time to panic!”</p><p>“We need to activate the Castle’s particle barrier,” Allura said.</p><p>“Particle barrier?” Lance asked.</p><p>Coran stroked his chin, contemplating. He waved a hand, and a holographic image of the battleship currently set to assault them appeared. “The particle barrier will only hold up for so long against that ion cannon,” he said.</p><p>“We need a plan,” Shiro said. “If we can’t hold out here, we need to decide what we’re going to do next, and quickly.”</p><p>“It may take some time to get the particle barrier working,” Coran said.</p><p>“Then do that first,” Allura said. “We need the barrier as soon as possible.”</p><p>Coran nodded. “Right away, Princess!” Coran dove beneath one of the consoles.</p><p>“We have to decide if we’re leaving or fighting,” Shiro said.</p><p>“We’ve only got three Lions!” Lance said. “I say we leave. Live to fight another day.”</p><p>Blue growled distantly in Lance’s mind. Lance stopped short, blinking. “Or not,” he said.</p><p>Keith gave Lance a raised eyebrow. Lance resolutely ignored him, trying to focus on what Blue was sharing with him.</p><p>“No, no, I’m with Lance,” Hunk said. “I don’t want to die. Let’s use the wormhole and get <em>away</em> from here.”</p><p>Blue shared the memory of the joy of being reunited with the Yellow Lion, coupled with a sense of resolve. Lance realized with a sinking heart that Blue was not willing to leave the Red Lion behind. And he couldn’t ask her to. It would be like if someone tried to get him to leave Rachel or Veronica or Marco or Luis in the clutches of an evil purple alien. In other words, something that would not happen.</p><p>“We can’t just leave,” Pidge said. “We can’t abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets and taking prisoners until we stop them. We have to fight!”</p><p>“Fight?” Hunk said incredulously. “Pidge, do you hear yourself? Do you remember our scores in our combat classes? We’ll <em>die.</em> At least if we run, Sendak will probably follow us and leave the planet alone, like when we left Earth. We have got to get out of here!”</p><p>“No,” Keith said, contributing to the discussion for the first time. “Sendak could destroy the planet and then come after us anyway. Fighting is our only option.”</p><p>Lance’s face twisted. He couldn’t believe that he was put in a position where he had to realize that Keith was <em>right. </em>Blue hummed in his head.</p><p>Lance groaned. “I hate to say it, but the mullet-head’s not wrong,” he said.</p><p>“Lance!” Hunk exclaimed, betrayed.</p><p>Keith snorted.</p><p>“Mullet-head?” Allura asked, confused.</p><p>Lance fought down a blush.</p><p>Shiro sighed. “Ignore them, Princess. The truth of it is, these are your Lions. You’ve dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we’re facing better than any of us. You should be the one to decide what we do next. We’ll follow your lead.”</p><p>Allura glanced around at them all, and Lance saw uncertainty in her expression. She seemed so capable and knowledgeable, but in this moment, it seemed that maybe she wasn’t much older than himself and the other cadets – 10,000 years in stasis aside, anyway.</p><p>“I – I don’t know,” Allura said, her gaze lowering to the floor.</p><p>The room was silent.</p><p>On the floor, Coran sat up, his features solemn. “Perhaps your father can help,” he said.</p><p>“My father?”</p><p>Allura’s eyes were wide, and her voice suddenly breathless.</p><p>Coran looked at her with sympathy. “Come with me, Princess,” he said.</p><p>Lance and the others watched as Coran led Allura out of the room. The doors shut behind the Alteans, leaving those from Earth standing there awkwardly.</p><p>“I thought her father was dead,” Pidge muttered.</p><p>“Pidge!” Hunk said.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Be more <em>sensitive,”</em>  Hunk hissed.</p><p>Pidge sighed, put upon. “She’s not <em>here,”</em>  he pointed out.</p><p>Lance glanced away as Hunk and Pidge bickered. Shiro was towing Keith out of earshot, speaking to him in a hushed voice.</p><p><em>I wonder what that’s about,</em> Lance thought.</p><p>His gaze trailed up to the yobmok that was set into the ceiling above them. He remembered the way that the Yobmok back home, the Heart of Atlantis, was like a living thing. As a child, his grandmother had taught him to connect to the Heart.</p><p><em>We are all one,</em> he remembered her saying. <em>We are all part of a greater whole. Distance doesn’t matter; separation is an illusion.</em></p><p>Now he was farther from home than he had ever been. Across light-years and light-years of distance, could separation still be considered an illusion?</p><p>How far were they, truly? Were they even still within the observable universe, from Earth’s perspective? Or was it possible that they had crossed beyond the cosmic event horizon?</p><p>Lance’s hand rose to his chest, touching his crystal through his shirt.</p><p>At these distances, was he still one with his people? Would his crystal still sing with Atlantis’ song? Could he still touch the Heart?</p><p>“And Lance!”</p><p>Lance jumped, pulling his hand away from his crystal as though he had been burned. Startled, he met Hunk’s puzzled gaze.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to scare you, man,” Hunk said. “But what was that back there? I thought you wanted to go, and then you turned around and agreed with <em>Keith?”</em></p><p>Lance sighed. “I <em>did </em>want to go,” he said. “I <em>do.”</em></p><p>“Then what’s the deal?”</p><p>“Blue doesn’t want to leave Red behind,” Lance said.</p><p>Hunk blinked at him, and Pidge leaned in inquisitively, suddenly invested in the conversation.</p><p>“Your Lion?” Hunk said.</p><p>“How do you know that?” Pidge asked.</p><p>Lance stared at them. “Uh, because she told me so? What do Yellow and Green think?”</p><p>Pidge and Hunk exchanged a bewildered glance.</p><p>“Are you saying Blue told you this while we were all in here?” Pidge clarified.</p><p>Lance raised an eyebrow. “Um, yes?”</p><p>Hunk squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. “Yeah, I got nothing,” he said. “I mean, I can feel Yellow, but I can’t hear it like I could while we were flying.”</p><p>“Well, it’s fainter,” Lance said.</p><p>Pidge cocked his head in an evaluating way, peering at Lance through his glasses. “I can’t get anything like that from Green either,” he said.</p><p>“Oh gosh, oh no, do you think this means that Yellow doesn’t really like me that much? I mean, why would Yellow like me, the Princess could probably find someone way better for this - ”</p><p>“Hunk, buddy, calm down,” Lance said. “I’m sure it’s just because Blue and I have been together a little bit longer, that’s all.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Pidge said.</p><p><em>Or maybe it’s because of my crystal,</em> Lance thought, though that was something he would not be sharing.</p><p>Luckily, he didn’t have to say anything else. The conversation was interrupted as the main doors slid open.</p><p>The princess stepped through the doors, her gown gone and her long hair pinned up. She wore a flight suit that looked sleek and futuristic. Her uncertainty was gone, her iridescent eyes hard in their determination. She looked different, but still gorgeous.</p><p>“You five paladins were brought her for a reason,” Allura declared. “The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must <em>fight,</em> and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon.”</p><p>Allura paused, and her voice went softer, though no less fierce. “It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope. <em>We</em> are the universe’s only hope.”</p><p><em>But no pressure,</em> Lance thought, swallowing.</p><p>“We’re with you, Princess,” Shiro said, and his voice didn’t waver a bit. Lance envied him.</p><p>Allura nodded regally. “Come with me,” she said, and turned and strode out of the room.</p><p>Lance exchanged a glance with Hunk, and then followed.</p><p>Allura led them all to yet another large room. It lit up as they entered. On the wall opposite the door, five pods stood. For a moment, Lance thought they contained more people. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that each pod contained a suit, somewhat reminiscent to the one Allura now wore.</p><p>“Your suits of armor,” Allura said.</p><p>The armor was damn cool. It fit perfectly, adjusting to each of them. As Lance finished putting it on, he wished he had a mirror to admire himself in. He was positive he looked totally badass.</p><p>Allura opened another console with a wave of her hand, and sent four u-shaped thingies floating to Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith.</p><p>Lance caught the thing and peered at it. It was a shade of blue that matched his armor.</p><p>“The bayard is the traditional weapon of the paladins of Voltron,” Allura explained. “It takes a distinct shape for each paladin. Just focus your mind on the bayard.”</p><p>Lance tilted his head and focused. The bayard shimmered in his hand and elongated into some kind of blaster-rifle. Lance’s eyes widened in delight.</p><p>“Aw, yeah,” he said, raising the rifle and looking down its sights. It fit perfectly in his grip, perfectly balanced and steady.</p><p><em>Veronica would love this thing,</em> he thought.</p><p>Next to him, Pidge activated his own bayard. It turned into a sort of dagger-like thing. Pidge stared at it. “I have got to know how this works,” he said.</p><p>Lance looked at the others and saw that Keith had a sword, while Hunk had a giant cannon-type gun.</p><p>Shiro, meanwhile, did not hold a new bayard.</p><p>“Shiro, I’m afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin,” Allura apologized.</p><p>“I guess I’ll just have to make do,” Shiro said.</p><p>Allura dipped her head once in acknowledgement to him, then returned her attention to the rest of the room.</p><p>“Now, we need a plan,” she said. “We should return to the control room and decide how we will handle this Sendak.”</p><p>*</p><p>“We’re going to have to take out that ion cannon,” Coran said, pointing to a part of the holographic display.</p><p>“I agree,” said Allura. “The fleet is protected by the cannon’s reach. The Lions will be unable to move freely until the cannon is disabled.”</p><p>“It’s also the only weapon in Sendak’s arsenal that provides a threat to the Castle,” Coran added. “The particle barrier will protect us from a few hits, which gives you a bit of time to take it out, but it won’t last forever.”</p><p>Allura nodded. “So we have two objectives: disabling the ion cannon, and retrieving the Red Lion. Both require you to get in close to Sendak’s ship.”</p><p>“We also have to find the Red Lion,” Keith interjected. “That’s a pretty big ship. How are we going to know where it is?”</p><p>“Well, it’s not a matter of we, it’s a matter of you,” Pidge said.</p><p>“Pidge is right,” Hunk said. “Once we get you in, you’ll be able to feel its presence and like, track it down.”</p><p>Lance shrugged. “You were feeling the Blue Lion back on Earth, right? It’ll be like that.”</p><p>Keith raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“Keith, remember the Red Lion is extremely temperamental,” Allura said. “You’ll have to earn its respect.”</p><p>Keith nodded once, his face serious.</p><p>Shiro had been contemplating the display before them. He placed a supportive hand on Keith’s shoulder, then looked around at them all.</p><p>“Alright, then. Hunk, Lance, the Galra know that we have the Yellow and Blue Lions, right?”</p><p>Hunk and Lance nodded. “Would’ve been hard for them to miss,” Lance said.</p><p>“But they don’t know we have the Green Lion,” Shiro said. “So that’s our way in. Here’s our plan of attack.”</p><p>Shiro laid it out.</p><p>Hunk and Lance would provide a distraction, pretending to surrender their Lions to Sendak – which would also allow them to get near Sendak’s ship and his ion cannon without being fired upon. Meanwhile, Pidge would slip in with Shiro and Keith in the Green Lion, and they would sneak onto the ship. Keith would find the Red Lion while Hunk and Lance launched an attack on the ion cannon.</p><p>Shiro looked around at them. “Everyone got it?”</p><p>There were nods and serious expressions all around.</p><p>“It is a sound plan,” Allura said.</p><p>Shiro nodded once. “Then let’s do it,” he said. “To the Lions.”</p><p>*</p><p>As Lance and Hunk flew up towards Sendak’s ship, Blue was torn between anger at the Red Lion’s captors and excitement at the Red Lion’s proximity. Those emotions were covered by a steely determination, a conviction that this battle would end in victory.</p><p>Lance took comfort in Blue’s certainty. He was more nervous than he wanted to admit at the thought of turning themselves over to Sendak – even as a trick.</p><p>They drew close. Lance took a breath, and hailed the ship.</p><p>“Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We’re surrendering our Lions.”</p><p>Lance’s voice stayed steady, and for that he was thankful.</p><p>Blue and his crystal hummed at him in harmony.</p><p>He shut off the open channel. “Hope this works,” he said softly.</p><p>Hunk and Lance waited, suspended in space as the great bay doors of the Galra ship began to open.</p><p>“Pidge, what’s your ETA?” Lance asked over the comms.</p><p>Pidge replied a moment later, his voice hushed. “We’re in,” he said.</p><p>Ahead of Hunk and Lance, a light began to gather within the Galra ship.</p><p>“What’s that thing?” Hunk asked.</p><p>“I think that’s our signal to get out of here!” Lance cried.</p><p>Both Lions darted away from the open mouth of the ship just as a beam of purple light shone through the space they had occupied a moment earlier.</p><p>Lance and Blue twisted around to regard the ship. Fighters began pouring out of multiple openings.</p><p>“Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!” Lance directed.</p><p>“Ten-four!” Hunk acknowledged, and both Lions dove into battle.</p><p>Lance and Blue smashed through wave after wave of fighters. It was easier than it had been the last time they fought together, though Lance wasn’t sure if that was because he and Blue were more in sync now, or because in open space the Galra fighters couldn’t corner them against the ground as they had done on the planet.</p><p>Either way, Lance was having the time of his life. He whooped as Blue opened her mouth and blasted into another group of fighters. Blue spiraled into the Galra formation’s flank, breaking it apart.</p><p>Blue was utterly satisfied with herself as she twisted through the melee, dodging blast after blast. Lance couldn’t put a name to what it was exactly that she was looking forward to at the end of this fight, but he was caught up in her excitement nonetheless.</p><p>Sharing his mind with Blue felt a lot like tapping into the Heart of Atlantis. Through the Heart, all the people of Atlantis were connected, through the past and the present alike. He knew that some of the greater yobmaka masters could access memories of the past through the Yobmok, or speak to each other across long distances.</p><p>Lance had never done that, but he remembered well the sense of togetherness he felt whenever he touched the Heart’s power. It was like he was part of something greater; like there were thousands of voices singing to him just beyond his reach.</p><p>Lance and Thira had managed rudimentary communication through their crystals before – just enough to share emotions, but not words.</p><p>Maybe that was why he had heard Blue on the Castle when Hunk and Pidge could not – he was accustomed to sharing his mind with others.</p><p>Lance and Blue flew together, destroying fighters and moving without thought. Lance realized that somewhere along the line he had fallen into the breathing patterns his grandmother had taught him as a child, for meditation.</p><p>It was surprising how easy it was to drift toward a meditative state with Blue, even in the middle of a battle. Lance had never been very good at meditating – finding stillness in his chaotic mind had always been difficult. Blue helped, somehow, smoothing everything as they twined closer together.</p><p>Lance had barely been with Blue for a day, so far, and already he couldn’t imagine being without her. Lance wondered vaguely if he should worry about that.</p><p>A note of fire burst into his bond with Blue, startling Lance out of his focus. He and Blue rolled out of control for a second before he regained their balance.</p><p>Lance cursed under his breath, eyes wide. That fierce, high note, like the scrape of steel – that had to be Red and Keith.</p><p>“Keith did it!” Lance shouted over the comms. “Hunk, how’s it going with that ion cannon?”</p><p>“I can barely make a dent in this thing,” Hunk shouted back. “Wait, what do you mean, ‘Keith did it’ – ”</p><p>“I’m right here,” Keith said, patched into their comms. “Red and I are up.”</p><p>“Good going, Keith!” Shiro congratulated. “Pidge and I are heading out. Everyone head back to the Castle. Hunk, is that ion cannon taken care of?”</p><p>“I think so,” Hunk said. “It’s a little smashed, at least.”</p><p>“A little smashed?” Lance asked.</p><p>“Yeah, a little smashed. Sorry I couldn’t manage a lot smashed,” Hunk replied.</p><p>“Can we just go?” Keith said.</p><p>“We’re already going!” Lance said.</p><p>The Blue, Yellow and Red Lions arced back to the planet, followed closely by the Green Lion.</p><p>*</p><p>At the Castle, the sky was turning golden as the sun set. Allura directed them to a great hangar bay. Though the pilots were unsure, the Lions seemed to know what to do.</p><p>The Lions arranged themselves in a semicircle, with Blue and Yellow – the largest Lions – flanking Red and Green, the two smaller Lions.</p><p>Blue was fairly singing in anticipation and delight, purring constantly at the presence of the other Lions. It made Lance edgy, bubbling up with such strong emotions that were not his own.</p><p>The first note was Green’s, a hum of a joyful crescendo followed swiftly by Red’s fierce cry. The Yellow Lion joined, a deep and steady thrum to counter the flighty melodies of Red and Green.</p><p>Lance barely had a moment to take a breath before Blue added in, sharing a hum that rose and fell, bridging together the other three.</p><p>Lance’s crystal chimed. A shiver ran down his spine. There was still something missing.</p><p>The bay doors slowly began to open, revealing the shadow of something even larger than Blue and Yellow.</p><p>Lance gaped as the Black Lion was revealed.</p><p>The Black Lion’s eyes flashed. A new note – strong and unwavering in its conviction – joined the song, making it complete. A ten-way bond flashed into existence.</p><p>Lance felt like something inside him was glowing. Through Blue, he could feel the other Lions, and faintly, echoes of the other paladins. This was what Blue had been waiting for, anticipating all through their battle in the sky above. It was the most intense thing Lance had ever experienced.</p><p>The Black Lion roared, and the sound trembled in Lance’s bones. The other Lions stood and answered the Black Lion’s call, the newly-forged bond singing between them all.</p><p>It was done. The Lions of Voltron were one once more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p><b>Quick Atlantean Definitions</b><br/>Yobmok - Great Crystal<br/>Yobmaka - crystal arts</p><p>If you want to know more about the Atlantean words I'm using, please go check out my <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/post/620023133342154752/atlantean-language-masterpost">Atlantean Language Masterpost</a>!</p><p>For those who might be curious, an event horizon is a point through which light cannot pass - and therefore information cannot pass either. A black hole becomes a black hole when its escape velocity grows equal to or greater than the speed of light, so that light cannot escape it. Every black hole has its own event horizon. </p><p>The other kind of event horizon you might hear about - the one I referenced in this chapter - is known as the cosmic event horizon. Basically, it's the edge of the observable universe from Earth's perspective. In the time since the universe began, light can only have traveled a finite distance. That distance marks a radius around Earth within which we can see. Beyond that distance, no light or information can reach us - and thus it is the cosmic event horizon. Anything beyond that radius is completely unknowable to us. (I could write a lot more on this topic, so I should probably stop now.)</p><p>In this chapter, I also referenced that Lance was taught by his grandmother as a child to use his crystal and to access the power of the Heart of Atlantis. I wrote the scene where this happens in <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29229477/chapters/71771028">falling fast to the ground</a>, another story in this series!</p><p>The other day I saw someone say that Voltron is a dead fandom. Here's hoping that's not true! I'd love to hear your thoughts down in the comments, and my asks on <a href="https://kimirce.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> are always open! (I also have quite a bit of worldbuilding for this series there if you'd like to check that out.)</p><p>Lastly, I've started posting a <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimirce/profile">Fic Status List</a> on my profile here on Ao3. If you'd like to know where I am on this fic or another, please go look there!</p><p>Okay, long author's note. I'm done now, I swear. Happy Spring, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for reading!</p>
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